Burn
by JudithAndHolofernes
Summary: Judith, a new graduate of the Academy, is appointed to a newly created & controversial position on the Enterprise's security team. How will she change her own life as she changes Picard's & Data's? Violence/Sexual situations, Het, Picard/OC/Data, AU.
1. Chapter 1: Ma'alesh

There are many ways to understand, to _feel _the word "_burn_"...you can burn physically in a fire, in a passion of lust, love, beliefs, or hatred, or in the situations that you create for yourself and others.

_**BURN**_

_**Prologue**_

**Chapter 1: Ma'alesh**

Judith. She didn't remember much of her early childhood, and certainly not anything of fond memories of love and affection. She didn't feel bad for herself; she didn't quite feel anything of it at all. Certainly there were others who had different experiences in reaching their adulthood, but she never looked at it as if these persons were luckier or better. Just... different.

Her most poignant childhood memory was the day that her father and his clan killed her mother. Or rather, when her father turned his back on her mother's silent condemnation, her disgust at the man she had chosen as a mate, written clearly across her face for all the world to see. No words were needed when he came to terminate their union, and to terminate her. Unable to stay or face her, or say anything, he had turned and left the room, head held high but shoulders trembling, while his men began their punishment of her mother for who and what she was.

Judith's mother was not of their race, was not part of the clan, and their union had never been accepted by the elders. Certainly Judith had never been accepted. She wasn't even certain any longer who and what her father's people were, or her mother's, for that matter. She did readily recall why her father allowed what happened to happen; he wanted to regain face and his status amongst his people. Judith recalled this quite clearly.

Judith hid under the bed while her mother was beaten and raped, berated and tortured. Judith's mother never uttered a sound, let alone the screams they obviously so wanted to hear from her. It probably made them more irate, more animalistic, that they were not given this pleasure. It seemed to Judith that it went on for quite some time. She remembered the deep male voices clearly, she remembered the smell of one of the male's expensive and somehow feminine cologne, she remembered the smell of the rare oil used to clean the _katana _blade after one of the assassins finally ended the torture of Judith's mother by slamming the sword through the beaten woman's heart, through her body, through the mattress underneath, and finally an inch through the floorboard inches from Judith's face. With a loud grunt, he pulled the blade back out, but not before Judith saw the artisan's mark on the razor sharp blade. She lay there, underneath the bed, on the cold wooden floor while she listened to the men jest and laugh and finally leave the room. She lay there while her mother's blood slowly seeped through the mattress and started to drip and pool on the floorboards in front of her face, until a cold drop finally dripped directly onto her face, onto her cheekbone, and slid down like a tear.

Judith did not cry.

Judith was eight.

She remembered sliding out from underneath the bed, and not allowing herself to look at what lay on it. She wanted to remember her mother as she had been; strong, breathtakingly beautiful, royal and proud. Not the bloody mass of tissue left behind after her _ka _had left and moved on to new adventures. Just like Judith was going to do. She walked out of the door much like her father had, but with different thoughts going through her head. _ Her_ shoulders did not shake or slump in defeat.

She never looked back into the room; she never looked back as she slipped around the now silent manse to collect the bare essentials she would need into a small satchel. She took nothing of sentimental value; no stuffed creatures or favourite books or even a picture of her mother. She didn't need them. Everything of value that she needed was kept close to her heart.

She she silently padded into her mother's private office, and opened the compartment hidden in the cabinet that her mother kept her personal weaponry in. Weapons that had not been accessible to her when she had so desperately needed them the most.

Judith removed her mother's _katana, _and some of the other more portable weaponry. Most importantly, she removed her mother's antique firearm, a rare and carefully tended piece of old-world weapon artistry, and the alloy metal bullets specially cast to be used with it. She took some of her mother's jewels, these to trade and barter for whatever else she would need to survive in the time ahead. She also took the PADD with the directions for Judith to find her mother's old Master and teacher, her_ Sifu_, and an old fashioned papyrus letter sealed and addressed to just this Master to give to him upon Judith's arrival. Judith had been told it was an introduction and a plea to take on her daughter as a pupil and ward. Judith's mother rarely made pleas, but to this man, she apparently would, either out of reverence to him or knowing that he was the only one who would be able to protect and instruct her only surviving child in the traditional ways, or both.

Judith's mother had already started her young daughter's training two years previously. She had prepared for what she knew might happen, and what had indeed happened. She had prepared Judith to survive and grow and become what she was destined to be... The instrument of her mother's revenge, the holder of ancient traditions and arts.

Judith had been training since she could stand upright, training in music, training in protocol befitting a person of her rank, or rather, the rank she would have been accustomed to if her mother had been of the clan. Her father had trained her in his ways, her mother in hers. Judith now took all of these things, the tangible and the intangible, and silently slipped out of the mansion through the servants quarters, unseen and unheard.

She was unsure if her father would want to terminate his relationship with her also, and did not believe it wise to stay around to see. So she turned towards her new life and left the last vestiges of her "childhood" behind. She would miss her mother, she wished that she had been able to learn more from of her ancestry and natural gifts from her. She did feel love and loss for her mother. She also felt a new emotion, slowly simmering, burning...

Hate.

She activated the PADD and started on her way, to her new destiny. "_It is what it is"_, she thought.

Ma'alesh.


	2. Chapter 2: New Faces

**Chapter 2: New Faces**

Captain Jean Luc Picard sat at his desk in his ready room, perusing the personnel files on the screen in front of him. Several new Starfleet graduates would be boarding the_ USS Enterprise D_ today to join the crew roster. There were three new medical personnel who would be greeted by Dr. Tropp, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, who would introduce the new medical staff to their new duties and help them get acclimated to their new surroundings and the society of the ship. Tropp exceeded at patience beyond most life forms' tolerance levels, and was visibly proud of being part of the Enterprise and her crew. These virtues, along with his outgoing and gregarious manner, always seemed to make most new crew members' adjustment go smoothly. Picard continued on with his files; No worries there.

Also joining the_ Enterprise _would be a young male Ferengi engineer specialising in research and development. The new Ensign Ishka seemed to not share the unfortunately stereotypical but usual interests of business and moneymaking that the rest of his race were so enamored of. Ishka was fascinated by the constantly changing advances in Warp Propulsion technology, and seemingly not for personal financial gain, but out of pure passion for the field and it's sciences. The notes in his file from his Starfleet instructors were full of praise for his passion to learn and his hands-on skills. It was certainly a rarity to welcome a Ferengi to Starfleet. Ensign Ishka was apparently a rebel; the first to leave the family "business". The Captain felt that his uncle, whom he had personally met on a few occasions, was surely not very pleased with his nephew's choice of career. Picard chuckled at the thought as he flicked through the holo files on the screen of the other new additions to his crew, noting nothing of major interest or concern until he suddenly stopped at one new crew member's file that stood out from the rest.

"_Merde_."

Of all the ships to place a member of a newly minted position and specialty in Starfleet. The _Enterprise_? She was a science and exploration vessel, not usually used for transport of important political figures that would need the extra protection. Although the_ Enterprise_ often did, when he thought of it, with the ship being the flagship and pride of the Federation. They had admittedly had some scuffles during these transports, although the dignitaries usually brought their own bodyguards. The _Enterprise_ wasn't a ship of war... Although, again, they had had quite a few scrapes and close calls lately... But why here? Why not another vessel more suited to this particular graduate? He began to read the information given about Lieutenant Judith Bethulia.

**ACADEMY HISTORY/RECORDS/ INDIVIDUAL OVERVIEW FOR:**

**Name:**** Judith Bethulia**

**Birth Planet Origin****: Unknown (**_**Possibly Earth**_**)**

**Birth Date****: Unknown (**_**Medical personnel place at approximately 25 Earth years, possibly **_**2342.)**

**Rank at Graduation from Starfleet Academy****: Lieutenant **

**MOS:**** Security (**_**See specialties**_**)**

**Biographical Summary****: (**_**Not complete**_**)**

Lieutenant Bethulia came to Starfleet's recruitment's notice on Starbase 34 while in a combat situation as a civilian, halting a group of Klingons that had engaged in some sort of disagreement that then escalated into an intense and dangerous battle while amongst uninvolved and unarmed civilians. Bethulia was apparently, as she stated, on the Starbase for repairs for her class C transport vessel. She intervened, disarmed and incapacitated all five of the Klingon officers, seriously injuring one (he later made a full recovery) without injury to herself, and prevented any injury to the uninvolved persons nearby. Her technique was an unusual, most definitely fatal to an opponent if necessary, and unknown form of hand to hand combat which seems to be related to Earth martial arts of several different varieties. She was searched thoroughly after the altercation and was found to have several weapons on her person, although she did not utilize them in the confrontation and none of the somewhat archaic weaponry was considered illegal by Starbase regulations.

She was interviewed by Captain Thomas Xavier Ross, who summarized the incident for this report, and was asked what she was currently involved in as a career or life path. She stated that "exploration" (quote) was her goal at that present time. Captain Ross asked her if she might be interested in testing for Starfleet Academy. He duly notes in his personal records of the event which he witnessed firsthand (see file attachments), that her quick response and skills in the altercation "both impressed and terrified" him, quote. Her vessel was discovered to be highly modified for extended flight distances and was warp speed enabled, and was both unregistered and, with the modifications, considered possibly illegal by Federation regulations. When asked, she stated that the modifications had been made by herself, and she had been traveling aimlessly for an unknown period of time. Records run at the Starbase via Federation checks by Captain Ross came up with no records whatsoever under her name, nor any illegal activities that could be directly connected to her.

Judith Bethulia came to Starfleet Academy with no background history other than her encounter with the five Klingon officers, the statements from the civilian witnesses (also attached), and the recommendations of Captain Thomas Ross. Upon initial testing and physical examination, Bethulia appeared to be a female of probable earth origin with some unknown DNA strains. (Natural and not synthesized. These tests are currently ongoing, and testing results as of date marked are attached to this file.)

It must be noted that she was initially tested for mental/emotional acuity; upon her arrival she was very restrained and stoic, not aggressive or insubordinate in any way to her testers or fellow recruits, but extremely unsociable and uncommunicative unless spoken to directly and asked questions. She readily agreed to be questioned by a Betazoid psychologist, Dr. Tam Reittan, who genuinely believes that she has no real recall of her origins except that she had left her family (no knowledge of family given or recorded, whereabouts and status unknown) at a relatively young age and had studied defense arts from a deceased "Master", or teacher, on Earth and had left Earth after his death.

She tested in the highest intelligence group, her physical condition is superb, and she took to Starfleet regulations and structure perfectly. She has extreme potential for a command position or possibly any field she so chooses (please recall the modified transport vessel). She has no recall of her education before her Starfleet training, but has proven fluent in several Earth languages, Klingon, Vulcan, and surprisingly, Romulan, and has stated for the record that given proficient time she can learn other languages and cultural habits relatively easily. As of the date of her graduation, she was put to the test in this and was becoming well versed in Cardassian. She is extremely proficient at the Earth musical instrument of the piano and other related instruments, and has stated to Dr. Reittan that her musical abilities are "therapeutic" for her.

She has expressed an interest only in Starfleet Security as her MOS. Her self defense and offensive battle techniques are extremely proficient and impressive. That the weaponry that she brought was allowed to be kept by her, and to be able to continue her "_katas"_ and_ "bridges"_ (the practice of her martial skills), were her only formal requests. She has constructed an impressive training program for the Academy's holodeck for this purpose which has been used in training for other security cadets as well, to much success, if some injury (see attached reports and schematics for training programs). One of her weapons, a "_katana", _is an Earth blade weapon that has been modified to be carried in a non-constrictive holster on her back which opens to a large steel sword when she deploys it. _SHE HAS PROVEN THAT SHE CAN PROTECT HERSELF AND OTHERS FROM PHYSICAL INJURY AGAINST CURRENT PHASER TECHNOLOGY, AND ANNIHILATED HER OPPONENTS __ARMED WITH_ _THIS AND HER OTHER WEAPONS_ in simulated exercises. She has been granted a uniform waiver to carry these weapons on her person when deemed necessary.

My personal impression of Lieutenant Bethulia is that she is a young woman of great competence, intelligence, and bearing. There has been an ongoing investigation into her past due to her uncharted DNA and to gather a better health record (she has many old physical wounds which have all healed, but it would be good to have more of a grasp of these injuries to cover any and all possible future situations), which the Lieutenant has not objected to, but neither has she expressed any interest in personally involving herself in finding anything more of her history.

She has graduated at the top of her classes, and passed the requisite examinations that have enabled her to graduate the academy as a Lieutenant, which is an obviously exceedingly difficult accomplishment.

Due to current escalating tensions throughout the Federation's associations and known adversaries (IE: the Romulan and Remans, the Borg), I and others have thought to consider creating a new and specialized position in Starfleet's Security division. (SEE SUBFILES, CLASSFIED.) Lieutenant Bethulia is willing to accept this mission, as long as her commanding officers on her possible choices of assignment are amicable and open to the idea.

END OF CURRENT RECORDS.

COMPILED BY CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY.

**Attached File from Captain Kathryn Janeway to Captain Jean Luc Picard: PRIVATE**

_Jean Luc,_

_If I know you as well as I believe I do, you are probably highly wary of this new lieutenant coming on board your ship; I know I would be if I had not the chance to be one of her assessors and to get to personally know her, or get to know her as much as anyone else has, other than her mysterious "Master". _

_I believe that this young woman has been through a very difficult past and has either blocked it with her admirable mental abilities, or the difficulties that she has faced have simply become a way of life for her and are all that she knows. _

_Jean Luc, she is intensely loyal to those that she cares for, and yes, she has shown the emotional capacity to care deeply. She is one of the most intense creatures I have ever met, and is AMAZING in her defense skills. I'll let you find out on your own some of her other skills that she has requested, with my permission, to be left out of her official file. _

_I was the one, by the way, that allowed her uniform waiver to allow her to carry her personal weapons. _

_I ask of you to meet with her, let your very competent Lieutenant Commander Worf work with her, as he would be her immediate commanding officer, and I know you respect his opinions. Give her a chance. _

_You and your crew have been through some extremely trying and close calls recently, and I believe that Lieutenant Bethulia will be of great help in what I am starting to feel is just the beginning of more troubles ahead. For Lieutenant Bethulia, and for yourself, too, Jean Luc, I ask you this. You have trusted my advice in the past, and I ask you to do so again now._

_Your Comrade and Friend,_

_Kathryn Janeway_

"Tea, Earl Grey, hot".

Picard read and re-read the file. Almost nothing known of her (her DNA hadn't even been fully charted!) Possible extreme psychological issues, dangerous to the extreme if provoked and constantly armed (_FIVE_ Klingon officers?), young, intelligent...

Yes, damn right he was concerned.

He then considered the fact that Tom Ross, a respected comrade and friend, had given his blessing and recommendations for her to enter the academy, and that another close and trusted comrade and friend, Kate Janeway, had actually not only asked but almost pleaded with him to give this new lieutenant a chance.

Jean Luc Picard always read the files on his new crew members in detail before pulling up their corresponding pictures. He had always felt that knowing the crew member's personal merits needed to be his first assessment.

"_MERDE_."

For the second time that morning, Captain Jean Luc Picard swore.

The picture on the holoscreen in front of him was of the most breathtakingly stunning woman he had ever seen.

Her eyes stared directly at the viewer, not self conscious as some new cadets were, not belligerent, or not cocky, just looking directly at the camera which had taken her official Starfleet file picture. With huge dark eyes that one could just stare into...

He literally shook himself. He was not one to usually ever be taken by a woman's appearance so strongly in person, let alone a mere holo. Maybe it was the shock that such a mysterious and apparently lethal creature could be so alluringly beautiful... He thought it was probably one of her advantages in combat.

He took a deep breath as he stood from his desk, giving a slight tug to the hem of his uniform jacket to straighten it as he did so. He chuckled to himself, thinking of the impression that she was sure to make amongst the male members of his crew; there was sure to be some distracted men on board if he agreed to take her on.

His thoughts turned back to the utmost concern at hand, that he had to deal with this complex situation. He had been asked to accept command of a new Lieutenant that was to have one mission and one mission alone on the_ Enterprise_.

To be a killer.

He had played Starfleet's political games long enough to read between the lines of what her "new position" was to be. She was to be a ruthless assassin to any enemy of the_ Enterprise _if needed.

_Merde_, indeed.

"Picard to Commander Riker, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Counselor Troi, to my ready room, please".


	3. Chapter 3: Life's Paths

_**Chapter Three: Life's Paths**_

Judith sat in the transport room's waiting area, nervously tapping her foot, before she caught herself doing so. She looked down at her foot accusingly, as if it was her appendage's fault for it's behaviour. She immediately stopped, hating to show any tells of her mindset that anyone watching to possibly catch. Giving someone an idea of what her thoughts and emotions were could be detrimental.

Captain Janeway had told her that she was to be assigned to the _USS Enterprise D_. Quite the honor, and quite the challenge. Judith was never one to step down from a challenge, but she did wonder about how her newly minted position's place would fit on a ship like the _Enterprise_... technically a science and research vessel. Although it, and it's crew, were the pride of Starfleet, she wondered why Captain Janeway had personally requested that she start her Starfleet career there, and not at a Starbase closer to the Neutral Zone, or as an officer that went where necessary in times of need. But then, obviously the Captain had believed it necessary for her to go to the _Enterprise_.

"Penny for your thoughts, Jude."

Judith looked over at her comrade and one of her only close friends while at the Academy. Sub-Lieutenant Tressa Reiso looked back at her, eyebrows raised in question.

"Just pondering what it's going to be like, living and working aboard a legend like the _Enterprise_?" She said with a mischievious gleam in her eyes.

"Ha, very funny, Tress, but actually quite accurate. I would think we all are wondering the individual fates that our superiors have deemed fitting for us."

Both the young women laughed, enjoying the last few moments of each other's company before going to their prospective assignments. It was an especially bittersweet moment for Judith. She was glad to have been successful enough in her goals to attract the attention of Captain Janeway and other leaders of the Federation Security Council, and to be appointed to such a prestigious and coveted position on the _Enterprise_, but at the same time she knew she would greatly miss the company of her friend and roommate, and the few others that she had allowed into her personal world. Judith had always believed that logic and stoicism would be the way through her path in life, wherever it took her. Her basic instincts had always been that any emotional connection with another being was unnecessary. Tressa had shown her that it was alright to allow herself to feel comfort and friendship from another being. An odd thing, that the Academy had thought to place a security MOS trainee and an amphibious technology engineer together as roommates, but it had made a good fit.

She had arrived at the Academy, to all appearances cold and aloof, while inside she had to continuously remind herself that she had been through much more demanding and disturbing things than one's first day at Academy.

It just was that there were so many people. She hated to be around others at that point, and it was such a huge change for her. She had always been a loner, or with her Master, who would often leave her utterly and totally alone for very long periods of time.

After she had finished her training with the Master, and finished with her "business" on Earth, she had just wandered the galaxies, taking in with her eyes and walking lands that she had only read or dreamed about. She saw and experienced many wonderful things, and many bad things as well, but she had long ago mastered the art of letting the bad memories in her life remain buried, where they belonged.

Sometimes, though, they came back to her, via her dreams, or her nightmares.

She had begun to wander aimlessly, not knowing from one day to the next exactly where she was going to go and what she was going to be doing in the next hours, days, and weeks, let alone in what direction her life was going. At that point, she had accomplished her goals, seen many wonderful worlds and places, and was, frankly, growing unbelievably bored.

Her travels were always to remote or extremely low populated areas. She didn't like to be around crowds or groups of people. She always seemed to attract attention whenever she was around others, and attention was something she did not want. Attention usually only brought trouble. She was fully able to remove herself from troublesome situations, but it was always a hassle and she had quite a few close calls. She only went to populated areas when absolutely necessary, for food and supplies, or when her ship needed repairs that required a docking station and tools that were not at her disposal. Hence, her fateful encounter on the Starbase.

Judith had definitely not been looking for any trouble while there. It seemed to her that in her experiences, whenever she was around others, there would always be trouble.

She knew her appearance was pleasing to most males (and some other sexes), but this had never been a point of pride with her at all. In fact, she found it irksome, because her looks drew attention to herself, and attention was what she most certainly did not want.

Whenever she was forced to be around others, she would clothe herself to hide her appearance as much as possible. She found that dressing in rough, male attire and keeping a head covering on at all times usually helped her melt into the proverbial wood work. Occasionally, though, someone with a sharp eye would see through her guise, and then there was sometimes trouble. As of yet, nothing that she hadn't been able to handle, but there had been some experiences that she rather had not had to go through, and she had been forced to clean up some... messes.

She did not feel guilt for her "cleanups". She kept to herself, and felt that if someone was looking for trouble, than they damn well better know how to handle it, or not cause problems in the first place. In her own personal viewpoint, she was not a vigilante. Those she had disposed of were thoroughly disagreeable, and although she supposed that most world's law enforcement would have _officially_ had to state otherwise, in each case they probably had secretly thanked whatever powers that be for whomever had removed that particular problematic individual or individuals. Judith never had stayed around long enough to find out, though.

She didn't want the attention.

She had only stopped at the Starbase for the tools that she needed to fix her replicator. It had been on the fritz for awhile and she was tired with only being able to eat cold foods. Upon arriving, she donned her usual camouflaging headgear and clothes, and eased into the sea of people. She had finished her transactions and had, on a very odd whim for her, fancied to stay long enough to eat a hot meal and to take in her surroundings. There were many different races on the Starbase, and a virtual sea of different languages flowed around her. Judith was fascinated by sounds, and the languages that some sounds made, or the music that was created by sounds. As much as she detested being around others, she loved sounds, and there were many new and fascinating ones here on this Starbase.

She had been drawn to a canteen by the smell of many different foods and the roar and lilt of language, and music underneath the sounds. She had chosen a seat in her usual position, back to the wall, visibility of her surroundings at a maximum, when sounds of a different type entered her recognition.

At the table next to her, a group of Klingon males were beginning to harangue their harried waitress, making uninspired lewd suggestions. The waitress was very young and possibly new to her job; she certainly didn't know how to handle the position that she was about to get herself into. The Klingons had been drinking heavily, what smelled to be contraband Romulan ale to Judith's hypersensitive olfactory glands. They began to escalate their harassment of the poor girl to tentative physical gropings. Judith observed, but she did not intervene. That would cause attention, and the girl had to grow a hard shell sometime, sooner better than later.

Then all hell began to break its way loose. One of the Klingons grabbed the girl, pulling her onto his lap, her kicking and pushing at him fruitlessly. A Starfleet officer of some rank or another jumped up from the table next to her, playing the valiant knight, shouting at the Klingon to release her. The angry manager of the canteen rushed over as well.

One of the extremely drunk Klingons unsheathed his _mek'leth, _an enormous and sharp blade. The canteen manager, seeing this, promptly ran back to the bar, presumably for a weapon of his own.

"Well, there goes a pleasant evening." Judith sighed to herself. The choice of her seating, while protecting her back and giving her a fantastic view of the goings on around her, had also served to block her exit from the melee without somehow becoming involved. She was now going to have to draw attention.

Damn.

She rose up, quick as an earth cat, and grabbed the forearm of the armed Klingon, and with a quick and efficient direction of power to her wrist and hand, snapped the Klingon's wrist bone, causing him to immediately drop his weapon, howling in pain. The entire canteen froze, completely silent.

Then the threatened hell did break loose.

The other Klingons unfroze and rushed to the defense of their comrade. As a group, they closed in on her.

Judith uncovered her head to allow her full movement and visibility in what was obviously going to prove an interesting cleanup.

Again, the canteen froze, but with a few gasps this time as they realized that she was a _She_. A She that was facing four enraged, drunk Klingons, and also a wounded but not down for the count one, who was slowly making his way back up, muttering amazingly crude oaths in his language.

The manager was the first to go into motion, and indeed had pulled an impressive looking phaser from behind his bar. He began to aim it at the Klingons, while the Starfleet officer that had tried to come to the rescue ordered him to stand down. The waitress took her opportunity and smartly fled the scene.

The Klingon with the broken wrist lost more face by passing out, face first onto the floor, probably from the combined shock of his injury and his above average intake of Romulan ale. By the wet crunching noise his face made as it hit the dirty canteen floor, it sounded as if he had further injured himself by breaking his nose.

Judith stood her ground.

One of the Klingons, possibly the leader of the group, and possibly the drunkest, started to laugh.

"Well, men, look what we have here. This one might be feistier than the other, but she indeed appears to be worth a few scrapes." He chuckled lewdly and began to advance on Judith, the others following suit.

"Are you sure you want to pursue me, boys? I might be much more troublesome for you to bother with than I look." Judith arranged her body in perfect stance, sliding her torso sideways to lessen the size of herself as a target. By all appearances, she was standing, poised, but with arms and hands down, not in an aggressive position. This sometimes worked to deflate a situation, but she knew that her words had surely sealed the deal. She had basically now not only thrown down the gauntlet, she had slapped them in the face with it. The Klingons were going to have to save face, and she was now definitely going to have to fight.

Well, she _had_ been bored.

She began to feel the familiar and calming charge of energy seeping throughout her limbs.

"Oh, you are most definitely worth the bother, my dear. Come, you obviously like it rough. We can give you rough." He moved forward.

Judith immediately slid her body down in what appeared to be an almost low bow, coming up with an almost preternatural speed with a flattened palm into the throat of the Klingon just as he arrived into her space. With a growling, choking sound, he slid to the floor, gasping for air. Judith had felt the crush of his windpipe.

Two down.

The others, being male Klingons, and extremely drunk male Klingons at that, did not, at this point, take the obviously wise course of action and stand down but rushed her. One came at her from the left, punching, grasping out almost blindly. Judith immediately swiveled at her waist, her center of gravity, and placed one each of her still flattened hands on either side of the man's arm. Using his own momentum and uncontrolled power against him, she switched her hands' positions and snapped his forearm with an extremely audible and squishy _pop_. She turned from him as from her peripheral vision she saw another coming, swinging in with a punch from down low, designed to take her down by reaching maximum power by the time it connected, which, IF it connected, might break her neck. As he came up, Judith sent a front snap kick that carried with it the power from her central core. She felt something give as her boot connected with his face. His momentum had combined into hers, aiding her kick by adding his own power behind it, as well. He dropped immediately, without a sound, and did not move.

That left the last, and, it seemed, possibly the smartest and best trained. He stood his ground, looked down at his comrades; one groaning with a broken arm which appeared to have part of a bone sticking out from one of the joints in his armour, one still gasping for air, one passed out with a broken wrist and nose, and one possibly dead. He looked back up at her, and slowly nodded and gave a slight bow as if in respect. Judith returned the gesture. He started forward slowly.

As if from afar she heard the Starfleet officer repeatedly calling for security. She had to finish this, and quickly, if she was to get off this damn Starbase and go on her way without any more annoyances.

The last Klingon came at her with a low, sweeping kick, which she easily skirted, twisting and landing a folded hand blow between his neck and shoulder. "_OW_" she thought momentarily. Damn Klingon armour. The force of the blow served to knock him askew, but by no means took him down.

They circled each other slowly. She did not want to unsheathe her _katana,_ that would definitely cause even more attention and firearms directed her way. The Klingon glanced down at his own weapon, looked up at her, and apparently thought the same, as he left his _mek'leth_ sheathed as well.

He finally finished his circle and came at her, just at the place that she had hoped he would. She had continued to use her right side in combat to give the appearance of weakness to her left. He fell for it.

Maybe he wasn't that good after all.

As he sent a powerful kick out at her left side, she twisted, and using her left leg and hand, performed a combined attack on his now exposed and unprotected right side, sending her own powerful snap kick to his hip after first connecting her flattened palm to his right cheekbone and ear. He went down, and stayed down.

"STAND DOWN! WE WILL STUN YOU IF YOU MOVE! I REPEAT, STAND DOWN!"

She looked around her and saw that she was now surrounded by five floored Klingons, and ten Starfleet Security personnel, all with their phasers trained on her, as the Klingons were obviously now out of commission and obviously no longer any threat. The Knight in Shining Starfleet Uniform was the one who had shouted out the order.

Judith assessed the situation. She could take down these Starfleet officers if she pulled her _katana _or her firearm, as they had phasers, but they were only doing there jobs, albeit a little slow on the draw, as she had done all of the messy work for them. If she used her _katana_ or her other weaponry_, _she would surely kill them. THAT would be extremely messy, and it went against her personal code of honour. They were innocent in this.

As she stood there, assessing the situation, her eyes flicking back and forth, Captain Thomas Ross watched her eye movements and every twitch of her body. He had to admit to himself that he was frightened, a rare occurrence for him. He had seen her transform five strapping Klingons into a mass of twisted limbs and bloodied bodies on the floor in a matter of minutes, unarmed. He had seen her immediate assessment of the current situation with the phasers all trained on her, and the self confidence in this stunning (in more ways than one) woman's eyes. He truly felt, deep down, on some instinctual level, that if she chose, she could destroy all of them, phasers or not, apparently unarmed or not. He waited, still and silent, as he watched her make her decision. The security personnel waited on his order.

The canteen was silent, a palpable aura of tension pervading the room.

Judith's mind worked at warp speed to assess the current situation. She would have to go against her code of honour, and probably have to injure or even kill more on the way to get to her vessel, if she could even get it undocked without the codes. This was a Federation Starbase, she would probably just be held for questioning. She had not started the altercation, she had not used any weapons, and those she had weren't contraband.

Judith flicked her thick, waist length braid of hair over her shoulder and, out of the corner of her mouth, blew a long piece of hair up that had worked its way out of the braid and into her line of sight. She looked directly into the eyes of Captain Thomas Ross, and, with a cockily raised eyebrow, nodded at him, and stood down.

And with that action, she unknowingly had just turned down a different life path.


	4. Chapter 4: Assessment

_**Chapter 4: Assessment**_

Commander William Riker paced the Captain's ready room as he listened to the computer give the basic details of the history and records of achievements and specialties of the new Lieutenant, Judith Bethulia, that was due to come aboard today at 16:00 hours. After listening to the computer recite the details of the Lieutenant's encounter on Starbase 34 in it's monotonous, emotionless voice, he whistled low under his breath, and stole a quick glance at Lieutenant Commander Worf to gauge his reaction. Worf, stoic as always, continued to stare straight ahead at nothing in particular, although his jaw seemed to clench a bit and his normal frowning countenance seemed to have it's frown lines deepen.

As the computer finished up it's recitation, Captain Picard cleared his throat and then was quiet, waiting for the assessments of his command crew. Along with his initial call for his second in command, his Chief security officer, and his ship's counselor, he had also asked the rest of his command crew, his closest friends and advisers, to join in on the impromptu meeting. He looked around the table, gauging the reactions on the faces of the others. He remained silent, waiting for one of them to start what was surely going to be an interesting discussion.

As he had figured, the person who would be in direct Command of Lieutenant Bethulia, Worf, was the first to speak.

"Captain, with all do respect, I have...reservations about this officer's placement aboard the _Enterprise._ I have perused the necessary files to gauge her qualifications for her position, and I feel that she is... perhaps _overly_ qualified for the current needs of the _Enterprise's _security team." He paused, seemingly thinking about how to say the next words he had on his mind. "She is most definitely an asset to a ship or Starbase that engages in higher security risk situations, but I am not, as of yet, exactly sure how I would fit her into the security team here, and what her duties would entail on a daily basis."

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge was the next to speak, chuckling.

"It sounds like you think that she might be bored, Worf. Or are you afraid she might decide to reenact her demonstration on Starbase 34 on you?" Worf looked down at the table, and then at Geordi, and growled under his breath.

Lieutenant LaForge continued. "I, for one, am interested in some of the modifications she made to that Class C vessel. It was pretty amazing what she was able to do with the tools she had on hand. Having a crew member who is versatile and has experience in various fields is always valuable, you never know what might come up."

"I am not stating that I would be unable to place her, Captain," Worf continued, ignoring Geordi's ribbing. "I am just concerned how well she would assimilate into the _Enterprise's _daily routines and how well she would be able to... interact with her fellow crew mates."

At this, Deanna Troi, ship's counselor, spoke up.

"Worf, if you're insinuating that her background and training might make it harder on her to mesh with the crew, than half the crew on this ship would be unfit to be on board and be outcasts. Just because she has had a hard life does not make her a bad person."

"But that's just the point, Deanna," Will Riker interjected. "We _don't know _exactly what her past is. I'm not saying that I believe that she's a danger to the crew, Captain," he turned to Picard, "It's just that I don't know exactly how much trust we can put in someone who we know almost nothing about...her DNA..."

"That shouldn't be an issue, Will," Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer, interrupted. "I actually have already run some of the preexisting diagnostics from her tests at the Academy, and I found nothing of danger to others around her from them, or any indication of any immediate danger to her own health, either. I'm actually looking at it this as sort of a challenge, finding out what those extra strains are."

"I don't believe that this particular individual would be amendable to becoming your proverbial guinea pig, Dr. Crusher." Will Riker chuckled.

"What exactly do we stand to lose, Captain, by having her come aboard? She might be an asset, just as Captain Janeway said. I will work with her closely on her adaptations. I can't get into some of the details of her psychological file here for obvious confidentiality reasons, but I don't believe that she will experience many more difficulties than the average newcomer aboard the_ Enterprise, _or be any danger to others. She was fully assessed at the Academy, and yes, there were some issues, but she seems to have had great success in overcoming them." Deanna spoke again, looking around at her comrades, almost defiantly. "It almost seems as if there is some prejudice towards her because of..."

"Because of the fact that she is a highly trained killer and assassin, Counselor?" Lieutenant Commander Data spoke up for the first time. "That on every _Enterprise_ in the history of Starfleet, we have mainly always been an exploratory and science vessel, on a mission of peace? That her skills and duties might be intimidating to her peers, and cause some concern amongst the crew?"

"Data, of all the people here to judge someone about overcoming prejudices..." Geordi started to say...

"I believe what Lieutenant Commander Data is saying is correct." The Captain spoke for the first time. "From what her files clearly state, she will have her own issues assimilating into the general populace of the ship, and if it becomes general knowledge among the crew what her "official" duties are, there could be even more problems. At this time, with all the recent stressful events that this crew has experienced, I will admit concern over causing even the slightest ripple of worry amongst the crew that there might be reasons for her placement aboard the_ Enterprise._"

"What if she came aboard, and we simply placed her into regular security details for the time being, and not let it be known what her other "duties" might be? We should give her a chance, Captain. I will greet her with Worf, and I will interview her with him. Would that be acceptable, Worf?" Deanna looked towards the Klingon, who looked deep in thought.

"Captain, I will agree to Counselor Troi's suggestion. We could place her into a basic security detail, and assess her progress as she adjusts, or as she doesn't. The rest of the crew would not have to know about the full situation. Captain, with all due respect, with your reminder of what the_ Enterprise's_ recent missions have entailed, it might be well met to have an individual who is trained so completely and efficiently in the defense arts. She also proved proficient in training some of her peers at Academy in some of her basic skills. I have now come to my own conclusion to advise that we should... give her a chance." Worf finally looked up and around at his comrades, then glanced over at Geordi. "And I would not mind having an adequate sparring partner other than the holodeck programs. I am _not _concerned that this new Lieutenant might best me in battle, Lieutenant Commander La Forge." Worf looked over at Geordi with a slight smirk on his face at the response he had made back at Geordi's jesting attempt for Worf to lose face.

"I agree with Lieutenant Worf, Sir," Data stated. "It would not hurt us, or you, to have extra protection at this juncture. She will either succeed or not. I was simply stating, Geordi, that I _do _understand some of the prejudices she will be facing if it becomes common knowledge to the crew exactly who, and what, she is."

The Captain cleared his throat again, and looked around at the comrades with whom he had shared so many adventures and had faced too many dangers to count. People who he had learned to trust and respect implicitly, and whom he had placed the fate of himself and his crew innumerable times. People who he had learned to call friends.

"Number One?"

"I guess I've been convinced, Captain. We've had crew members with more baggage than this Lieutenant seems to be come with, and it worked out for the best... I'll admit to having some worries, but I agree to let her prove herself."

"I'm not fond of the idea of having to "hide" anything from the general crew, but I will allow her her chance. Counselor Troi, Lieutenant Commander Worf, I place her in your hands when she boards at 16:00 hours. I will schedule an interview with her, as well as the other new crew members, for times convenient for myself and for their integration." He stood up, signaling the meeting's end.

As his command team filed out of the room, he wondered just who and what they were going to be meeting in a few hours, and what changes she would make to the society of his ship. He sat back down and called up Lieutenant Bethulia's holo image on the screen in front of him again, studying it.

There was just something about her, and Captain Jean Luc Picard did not know if that something was a good or bad thing. He wondered if his worries were due to his personal reaction to a picture of a woman he had never met, but who he would be meeting in a matter of hours. If he had reacted so strongly out of character for himself as he had to her mere picture, how would he react to the woman herself when she stood in bodily in front of him?


	5. Chapter 5: Endings and Begininings

_**Chapter Five: Endings and Beginnings**_

_"All hands, to your transport stations. All hands, to your transport stations. Departures will begin at 15:00 hours."_

Judith looked at Tressa, bringing herself out of her thoughts from her past. She was here, right in the _now_, and it was time to say her farewells to her comrade and friend for the present and wish the Gods to look on her well. Time to get ready to meet the people with whom she would be serving, co-existing, and protecting.

"_Deep breaths..._" She told herself.

Tressa reached over to Judith, grasping her hand and squeezing it.

"It's going to be okay, you know. Look how far you've come since I've met you! The silent, anti-social exterminator with the completely_ atrocious_ taste in clothes and with no fashion sense whatsoever, to the new, _tiniest_ little bit more sociable exterminator who at least has the sense to wear her uniform without violating code by trying to wear a burlap sack over it in a matter of a mere four years." Tressa teased. "Judith, you're gorgeous. Work it, girl. I'm not even in your MOS, but I can still figure out that if you used your looks more, you'd be even more formidable, and the people who will be your true friends will see past your looks and see the real you. You're honourable, and loyal. Don't go back to your anti-social behaviours once you leave here. You made friends at Academy, you learned to get out of your shell a bit. I know you, girl, and your nervous. You'll do fine, and I'm only a transmit away."

Judith looked at Tressa with a half amused and a half pissy look on her face, and finally laughed.

"I _was _a complete mess, hmm? Thanks, Tress. You brought me back to the world of the living." She squeezed Tressa's hand. "I mean it, I don't know what I would have done without you. I never knew anything else until I came here and met you..."

"The past is the past, Jude. Use the stuff you learned in your past that you need, but don't let the past overcome what you've got going for you now."

"I know, it's just I haven't ever looked at my future plans before coming to the Academy. What if Captain Picard rejects my transfer? The last I checked, my position isn't certain until I meet with him and his people. Captain Janeway said it would be fine, but I've heard scuttlebutt that I was really supposed to go to the Neutral Zone... It was Captain Janeway that suggested the _Enterprise _as my assignment. I still don't know why. And what if they find out about the..." at this Judith lowered her voice "the nightmares?"

"You are the strongest person I know, Lieutenant Judith Bethulia, both physically and mentally. Your emotions are normal, and you need them. Otherwise, you'll turn into your nightmares... remember that." Tressa tossed her bag over her shoulder, standing up. "Talk to the _Enterprise's_ counselor, Deanna Troi, I've heard from good sources that she's supposed to be excellent, but then only the best are on the _Enterprise_ anyway." She stuck her tongue out at Judith. "Lucky bitch." She smiled. Her face became serious again. "And tell her everything you can remember about your past, got it? It might help."

"I'm going to miss you, Tress. You always know how to put things in perspective, subtly or not. Gods help the crew you're going to, they won't know what hit them. You'll have them whipped into psychological shape in no time. You chose the wrong field." She laughed.

Judith stood up, and the two young woman held each others hands for a moment, looking each other in the eye.

"Thank you for being the sister and family I never had, Tressa."

"Thank _you_ for being my knight in shining armor that night, girl, and for being my sister, too."

They gave each other a last hug and went to their respective transport rooms.

Judith took a deep breath, lugging her duffel over her shoulder, careful not to knock her _Katana _askew. She tugged the shirt of her new Starfleet security personnel uniform down. She still felt self-conscious in the form fitting attire, but she understood that she had been lucky enough to get the uniform waiver from Captain Janeway for her _Katana _and other weapons_,_ let alone winning the argument against the new uniform design that they had had in mind for her.

For her newly created position and mission as a separate and new unit and as an addition to other security personnel, Starfleet had at first presented her with a newly designed uniform that was jet black from head to toe. Even the com badge and rank pips had been black matted so they could be hardly seen. The uniform had a cleverly folded head covering that could be pulled up over the wearer's head that even covered the eyes but left the wearer able to see clearly and therefore rendering them virtually invisible in darkness and shadows, and completely intimidating when standing in front of an opponent in battle. This uniform was even more form fitting, it wore like a second skin.

When it was presented to her, she had completely and totally balked at wearing it. After intense debates amongst the higher ups, it was decided that Judith could wear the normal Starfleet security officer's uniform until a mission necessitated the wearing of the other. Judith felt almost guilty as they had seemed to think that her new uniform design was an honour and she was being ungrateful. She supposed it was an honour, but she thought it was better not stick out even more than she already felt she did.

Judith still did not like attention, and the new black uniform design would most certainly bring attention. She wanted to try to fit in as well as possible with her new crew mates. She had no idea what exactly her duties were to be on the _Enterprise_, but she knew she was going to be different than the norm for sure already.

_"Ma'alesh." _It was what it was, she'd deal with it.

She was the first and only active member of a new Starfleet unit that was currently being trained using some of her battle techniques taught to her by her Master, via the holo-programming she had created while at Academy. An elite force to protect and serve as a sort of "final solution" for a Federation that was quickly realizing that the relative peace that they had enjoyed over the last few decades might not be lasting much longer.

There were old enemies of the Federation still in play and just waiting for an opportune moment to re-engage in battle, and new ones that might not only be a danger to the Federation, but to every living being in the universe. Her archaic weaponry and silent, solitary attacks might very well be the answer where all of the current technological advances of the Federation might fail.

The transport technician looked up from his com station.

"Are you ready to transport, Lieutenant?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Good luck, Lieutenant. You'll do fine."

Judith beamed to the _USS Enterprise._


	6. Chapter 6: Meetings

_**Chapter Six: Meetings**_

Judith materialized on the_ Enterprise's _transport platform and immediately started to assess her surroundings. She looked down and saw a large Klingon male with the pips of a Lieutenant Commander and the uniform of a member of Starfleet's security personnel. This had to be her new immediate CO, Lieutenant Commander Worf. His name was legend at Academy; the first Klingon to enter Starfleet, the boy who had survived a devastating attack that had orphaned him at the age of just six. Judith immediately clasped her hands together, and bowed low in greeting and a gesture of respect to the man. Coming up, she introduced herself.

"Lieutenant Judith Bethulia, sir, reporting for duty. Permission to board, sir."

Worf nodded at his new charge, already mildly appeased in spite of himself by her obvious show of respect.

"Permission granted, Lieutenant. I am Lieutenant Commander Worf, your immediate commanding officer. Welcome aboard the _USS Enterprise_."

Judith stepped down off of the transport platform and immediately went to Lieutenant Commander Worf's side, awaiting whatever fate had in store for her.

At that moment, the transport room's doors slid open and a strikingly beautiful dark haired woman walked in with a smile of greeting on her face. She immediately strode over to Worf and Judith and reached for Judith's hand. As Judith extended her hand as if for a handshake, the woman clasped it with both of her hands and smiled warmly at her, her obviously genuine pleasure at greeting her catching Judith a bit off guard.

"Hello, I am Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi. Welcome."

_"Ah, so this is the woman Tress was speaking of. Guess they wanted her here to make sure I didn't go psychotic on them the moment I stepped on board."_ Judith thought sardonically to herself.

"Don't worry, I greet all the new personnel to help show them around the ship and introduce them." Deanna Troi smiled, almost knowingly at Judith. "Lieutenant Worf will show you the ropes and explain to you your new duties."

"Thank you, Counselor Troi." "_Oh yes, and a Betazoid...best reign in my emotions and thoughts around her."_

"Follow us, Lieutenant." Worf strode off and out the doors.

Counselor Troi smiled as they followed behind him a few paces. "He warms up a bit after you get to know him a little. Besides, some of us are betting he might be a little intimidated by you. Was it really _five_ of them, Lieutenant?" Worf threw a glance back at Deanna that would terrify most people before continuing on, as if ignoring them. "Might I call you Judith?" The Counselor asked, in turn ignoring Worf's look.

"_Damn, my reputation proceeds me... I expected that, but I didn't expect anyone to throw it out there so soon, though..." _"Er, yes to both, Counselor Troi. I hope the Lieutenant Commander realizes I only had the upper hand in the situation because the... _gentlemen_ had partaken of too much Romulan ale to possibly even stand upright, let alone fight a respectful battle. I'm sure that I would have..." Judith paused, debating with herself whether to underplay her abilities out of respect, or if it would be more respectful to herself and the others by not to trying to deceive them about the abilities they were sure to know she had for mere formalities. She decided on the latter before continuing. "Had a more difficult time of it if they hadn't over-indulged that particular evening."

Still ahead of them a few paces, but obviously still within the earshot that Judith knew he was, Lieutenant Worf uttered what sounded to be almost a chuckle as he turned back to them, looking Judith in the eye and giving her a slight nod of recognition.

The three of them walked through the decks of the enormous ship, Judith's senses almost on overdrive. All the people, of so many different races, all the smells, all the sounds. She could even detect the slight reverberations and hum of the ship's powerful engines.

It was, in every way, overwhelming.

Many people turned to look after the trio as they passed. New crew members and people aboard were the norm, but Judith was much more striking then most. Deanna laughed as one young ensign literally ran himself into a wall as he tried to continue on his way while walking backwards to follow Judith's progress.

"You are already making quite the impression." She said with a smile.

"I do not wish to make any impression with the crew except by my conduct and adequate if not exemplary performance of my duties, Counselor Troi." Judith was starting to have the familiar feeling of wanting to disguise herself. She knew she should be used to it by now after Academy, but it always made her feel so damn uncomfortable to be looked at.

Lieutenant Commander Worf looked back at his new charge, assessing her. He was impressed with her no nonsense, professional response. He looked back behind the two beautiful women at the young ensign and several other males who had stopped in the galley to watch them pass. He gave an audible snarl and they literally scurried off.

"I meant no disrespect, Judith. The young men here will be gracious and respectful to you or I'm sure Lieutenant Worf will have their heads." Deanna smiled in reassurance.

"I assure you, Lieutenant, that the Counselor is correct, although I imagine you might be able to cause just as much damage if needed." Worf turned and continued on his way.

"_I think that I was just paid a compliment..." _Judith mused, a slight smile on her face.

They reached Deck 16, Section 12, quarters number 118. Judith had kept a mental map of every step that they had taken from the transport room doors to what apparently were to be her new quarters. She never became lost once she was shown the way. She used her senses as signposts to lead her.

The door slid open and Worf stepped back to let Judith and Deanna in. He remained outside of the still open door.

"The entry wards have not yet been set to recognize you. You will be able to set the security codes as you please. The only people who will have the authority to override them will be the ship's commanding officers, and then only in an absolute emergency." Worf stated. "You may leave your belongings here before we continue." Judith gave a quick glance around her new quarters. They were positively luxurious after the Academy's dorms. She dropped her duffel and followed the Counselor out of her room.

"We will enable a guiding system through your com link for you to find your way back here..." Deanna began.

"Thank you, Counselor, but that will not be necessary. I will be able to find my way."

Deanna looked ready to object, but Worf shot her a glance. The longtime friends looked at each other and then back at their new Lieutenant. She calmly and respectfully regarded them in turn.

Worf and Deanna silently agreed to let the moment and the issue pass.

As they continued on, Deanna prattled on about the ships amenities and such. A few people they paused to stop to introduce Judith to. All seemed truly friendly and happy to welcome her.

_"Maybe they don't know what I do."_ Judith thought. _"Surely they wouldn't be this welcoming if they knew what I my assignment was..."_

They had stopped at what appeared to be a large, sophisticated restaurant of some sort, complete with a sleek bar and minimal, atmospheric lighting. There were people mingling all over, eating and drinking, chatting, socializing.

"This is Ten Forward, Judith. You'll get to meet many new people here, and it's a more informal atmosphere, not as intimidating." Deanna said. "Come over and meet Guinan, this is her domain. She knows everybody and everything that goes on on this ship. I swear that sometimes she should have my job." Deanna laughed as she lead Judith over to the subtlety lit bar. "Guinan, this is Lieutenant Judith Bethulia. Judith, meet Guinan."

Judith extended her hand in formal earth greeting to the woman behind the bar. Guinan grasped Judith's hand in a firm grip, and held on for a tick longer then normal. The woman's smart, observant eyes flicked over Judith. It seemed as she was assessing her with her eyes and the tactual grasp of their hands. Guinan gave Judith a nod, and then released her hand. Her face broke out in a room lighting smile. "Welcome, Judith of Bethulia. It is an honour to meet one of your people after all of these years. You will be a great help and light, I am sure, and in many ways and to many people."

Judith stepped back, confused astonished beyond all words at Guinan's greeting. Deanna and Worf looked on, equally confused and astonished.

Judith gathered her poise back together as quickly and as well as possible, and clasped her hands together and made a formal, respectful bow to Guinan.

"I am sorry, ma'am, I do not know of what you speak, but I am pleased to meet you, as well. Thank you for your welcome." Judith paused, seemingly at loss for words. "I am sorry, but do you know of me? Of my..."

"We'll talk, little one, in time. You just go on now with Lieutenant Worf and Counselor Troi. They'll help you settle in and get you used to the _Enterprise_. When the time is right, I'll help you get to know _you._" Guinan smiled, genuinely and with kindness. " You'll do fine, little one. You go on, now. Oh, wait! Data, come over here and meet the new Lieutenant."

Judith was still thunderstruck, totally at a loss for words. "_My people? After all these years? What does she mean?" _Deanna and Worf were looking almost as confused as she.

As they were standing there, the man that Guinan had called Data walked over to them. He had a strange pallor to his skin; white with a golden sheen. His eyes were of a golden hue, also. He wore the pips of a commanding officer. "_This must be Commander Data, the android, third in command of the Enterprise, another legend." _Judith recalled between the other thoughts still racing through her head from Guinan's mysterious words of welcome.

Data extended his hand to Judith and grasped it firmly. He gave her a formal bow made at the waist, more than a bit theatrical to the lookers-on. Then, to the astonishment of all, he lifted her hand up and brushed his lips across it. Judith felt a frission of _something_ as his lips touched the sensitive skin on the top of her hand. "I am Lieutenant Commander Data, and I am pleased to meet you, Lieutenant Bethulia."

"DATA!" Deanna virtually shouted. The entire of Ten Forward has gone completely silent and were obviously transfixed on the scene before them.

"I am sorry Counselor Troi, is there something wrong?" Data looked puzzled, still holding on to Judith's hand.

"Data, that is NOT the proper way to greet a new crew member!" Worf looked like he might start shouting at any moment, also.

"I am sorry, by what do you mean? I was attempting to set Lieutenant Bethulia at ease and be less formal since we are in Ten Forward and in a more relaxed setting. I apologize if I have offended you, Lieutenant." Data looked at Judith, obviously concerned that he had made a truly serious faux pas.

Judith, much to her own astonishment, and to the apparent astonishment of the others, laughed aloud. She made a formal little curtsy to Data.

"I am very pleased to meet you as well, sir, and thank you for your concern over my mindset. I admit to feeling a bit... overwhelmed at the moment."

"You are very welcome, Lieutenant." Data acknowledged.

"Alright, show over, everyone." Guinan intervened before anything went further awry. "Why don't we let the new Lieutenant, Mr. Worf and Counselor Troi go on their way?" She smiled, obviously amused by the proceedings unfolding in front of her.

"Would it be acceptable if I was to accompany you on the rest of your tour as well, Lieutenant? I was just leaving, myself." Lieutenant Commander Data asked.

Judith immediately looked to Worf for his decision. Worf saw this, and recognized Judith's deferral to him. It helped to diffuse the situation and to set him back at ease.

"I believe that will be agreeable, Lieutenant, as long as there are no more..." Worf paused for effect "_DISPLAYS_ of informality at this juncture of Lieutenant Bethulia's introduction to the _Enterprise_."

Data followed Judith, Worf, and Deanna out of the still silent Ten Forward. As soon as they were out of the door, Guinan started laughing aloud.

"Oh, this is going to be interesting."


	7. Chapter 7: Procrastinations, Insomnia, &

_**Chapter 7: Procrastinations, Insomnia, & the First Flame**_

There was smoke and sand grit blowing around, making Judith appreciate the foresight she had had to wear protective goggles. The sounds of powerful engines roared around her, as well as many voices, speaking in many mixed languages, but in all the voices Judith could hear the tones of fear and confusion. Judith walked on, seemingly oblivious to the tumult and confusion around her, but at all times constantly aware of her surroundings.

She heard another loud, almost sonic_ boom_, and heard the noises of fear and confusion intensify. She smiled with a just a slight upward turn of her lips, satisfied that another of her weapons had detonated with perfect timing to create yet more destruction and chaos. Her calculations had been correct.

Judith walked into one of the stables to see if her father still kept his prize horses. The man loved to own flesh; human, animal, one format or another, and in anyway possible, it didn't matter to him as long as it was his to play with or destroy at his whim.

There had been a particular stallion that had been her favourite as a child. He had been wild and unapproachable, but was a beautiful and rare full blooded Arabian, so he was kept to stud. He had not been wild with Judith, he had been docile and gentle with the child. She had been the only one to be able to mount and ride him when she was just seven.

She looked towards his stall and saw that he was still there, at least still there and alive in body. The once proud animal looked beaten and neglected. He had more than likely become a surrogate for the anger her father couldn't inflict on her after her defection because of her obvious affection for the animal and he for her. She was sure he had only been kept because he was of value. The stallion's head raised, and he nickered and kicked at the walls of his stall. Judith felt something akin to pleasure; it appeared he recognized her. She also felt another flame of hatred burn inside of her at the treatment of the innocent animal.

She approached him, holding her hand out flat for him to smell and nuzzle.

"Hello, old friend."

She felt a minute change in the current of air directly behind her. Smoothly and quickly turning, she saw one of her father's clan members attempting to ambush her from behind with stealth. He grinned, exposing a set of rotten teeth. Judith flared her nostrils. She smelt, along with the smell of the decrepit oral decay, the smell of a familiar, almost feminine cologne...

"So the prodigal daughter returns... Were you there, little girl, when I dispatched your mother from this realm? I could hear your breathing under the bed that day. Do you think you will avenge her now? I could have taken _care_ of you then, but then, I _do_ have a heart. Such a little thing you were." He giggled, a strangely ominous sound coming from such an odious creature. "You've turned into just as fine a specimen as her, if not finer! Here, maybe we can look past your maternal lineage's problems, and _welcome" _at this leered knowingly "you back into the fold, if you can be a good little girl. You've created quite a stir today, quite a surprise, but you're father has _missed_ you so. I'm sure we'll be able to settle things up all right." He grinned again and moved closer.

Judith's hand shot out, so quickly the normal eye couldn't even track it. Her hand struck his chest, powerfully, directly over his heart. Her fingers curled into claws as the flat of her palm delivered its devastating blow, and like a how a tiger first pummels it's prey with immense paws and then detracts immense and blade-sharp claws, Judith's fingers did the same. Her fingers tore through his shirt, tore through the skin, and she dug into the gasping man's chest. With a quick and powerful wrenching motion with her wrist, she pulled out his still beating heart and held it up, head cocked and with an eyebrow raised, as she regarded it.

"I didn't believe you, that you had a heart." She held it up in front of his astonished eyes in her hand, his blood pattering onto the floor as he stood, gasping, and then started to slump slowly to the floor, first onto his knees, then onto his side. He lay there, gasping out his last few breaths.

"Well, I guess you proved me wrong." She dropped the organ in front of his face, and stomped on it with her boot, his disgusting and spiritually tainted life's fluids squelching out, splattering his face with his own blood.

Judith dropped into a squat in front of the dying man, speaking the last words he was to hear in this realm. "You received an easy death, cur, because you are a stupid creature, a follower, but still you have enjoyed too much of your _duties." _She stood back up and delivered and quick kick so that his smashed organ slapped into his face. "Perhaps I shall see you again someday in hell."

Judith stood up, turning her back on the man. She stopped at her old steed's stall, opening the door. He came out and nuzzled her. "Wait for me, old friend, you will be of great help to me soon."

She proceeded through the melee and utter chaos around her, calmly, towards the main wing of her father's grand estate. Vengeance was coming to the house of her father in the form of his fifteen-year-old daughter.

-oOoOoOo-

Judith woke up with a gasp, sweat drenching her body. She sat up, rubbing her hands across her eyes. She hadn't had one of the dreams in awhile. She knew she should that she should be used to them. They were her burden to carry, as well they should be.

Judith shivered. "Computer, raise temperature 4 degrees Celsius." She stood up and stretched gracefully, looking down at the clock. 02:14 hours. She shook herself, stretched again to alleviate the tense muscles in her back and neck, and strode to the lavatory, completely naked. As much as she hated being stared at, while alone, she felt the most comfortable "sky clad".

She stared into the mirror over the sink. _"Ugh, and I have my first meeting with the Captain in less than five hours."_ She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She regarded the sonic shower, and then the tub for water bathing. She felt dirty, inside and out.

She had been on the_ Enterprise_ for a week now. Lieutenant Worf had proven to be an excellent CO. Not only did she respect him as a fellow warrior and officer, but she was beginning to actually like him as well. Surprisingly, she felt that the feelings were mutual. She felt very comfortable with him. He had started her on basic, typical security details and introduced her to Commander La Forge. The friendly head of engineering had immediately started to pick at her brain, assessing her knowledge on various computer programming, engineering, and weaponry design skills that were her forte at Academy. With Lieutenant Worf's approval, she had also started to explain and demonstrate a few of her somewhat archaic defense "bomb" designs. Most of the current force field technologies were created to shield against photon and other "stored energy" weaponry, and couldn't recognize nor block the forceful shrapnel of tangible, solid material that erupted from her basic and simply constructed bomb technology. La Forge was very open to her ideas, and actually seemed more than a little excited.

The rest of the crew had continued to be very welcoming to her and ingratiating. She was starting to feel more at home. She had even started to make a few tentative friends. Lieutenant Data was an intriguing conversationalist, and his presence seemed to set her at ease. She supposed that was partially because of his being an android, albeit one with emotions due to his highly technologically advanced "emotion chip" that he had explained in minute detail and then showed her. She had definitely been astonished when he had removed part of his scalp to pluck it out and actually hand it to her! Even with his sometimes foreign and odd mannerisms, she didn't feel any of the typical uncomfortableness she felt around most males. At this point, besides her CO, she spent the most time with him, his showing her around the Enterprise being very helpful, and they had long debates and talks on a myriad number of varying subjects whilst roaming the enormous ship.

He also had started helping her start her_ kata _and battle scenario training program for the Holodeck. She was good and fast at programming, but he was _FAST_. She had watched his hands fly over the panel as she explained what she wanted. At times he would stop and look to her, appraising her requests. He expressed concern over some of the extreme reality of the programming and potential for serious injury. She in turn explained that the Academy had not only allowed but had most assuredly encouraged her ongoing practice and training. He had paused, head cocked. She supposed he was accessing various files available to him to verify her words. After a few seconds, and with a look of slight trepidation, he had continued.

Although he was, by all physical definitions, an android, with his emotion chip and his life experiences, he was as much human, and possibly even more so, than Judith herself, by her own personal assessment. She had already grown, in spite of her normally stand-offish ways, very fond of the Lieutenant Commander and greatly valued his input and friendship. His obvious concern over her possible well-being was endearing, despite her usual complete emotional detachment. Especially since, given that as a commanding officer, he was certainly privy to what her true duties and training were, and yet he didn't treat her any differently then he did any of his other friends and comrades.

Counselor Troi had proved to be a genuinely good woman, and Judith had started to open up a_ bit _a couple of days after her strange and mystifying introduction to Guinan on her first day aboard in Ten Forward. She had slowly started to share a few pieces of her past with her, feeling that the woman was not judgmental in any way. She also explained to Deanna (as she insisted Judith call her during their talks and unofficial interactions) that there were various and large gaps in her memory and her knowledge of her past and her people.

Dr. Beverly Crusher had at first intimidated her with her thorough physical examination on her second day aboard, but her genuine sincerity helped put Judith at ease. She had felt embarrassment as the doctor gasped upon seeing some of the deep scars that crossed Judith's body. The doctor had immediately offered to erase them, and had been reaching for the instrument to do so, when Judith had vehemently told her no, that they were a part of who and what she was. Beverly Crusher had looked at her, apparently appraising what Judith had said, and then nodded, seemingly accepting Judith's wishes and understanding them. She had tentatively asked her about some of Judith's tattoos that ran down part of her left, dominant arm, and the few across her back and lower leg. Judith looked at the floor, embarrassed. She explained to the Doctor that some were personal, and some she did not know where or when she had received them. Beverly had apologized, and Judith reassured her that she understood the Doctor's interest.

Judith was quick to explain that she completely understood her inquisitiveness, being that she herself had done some investigation into the writing permanently and deeply inscribed on her body.

She knew that most of it was in Earth languages. Some were Arabic, and some were Chinese _congees,_ and some even in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but she had been unable to fully translate all of it due to the lack of any modern use of the hieroglyphic designs for over three millennium.

Beverly (as she had demanded to be called by her first name when alone or on unofficial interactions, just as Deanna Troi had) had suggested talking with Data about it, as he was a walking universal Encyclopedia. The women had both shared a laugh over this.

It was surprising to Judith how she had felt much more at ease on the _Enterprise_ than she had ever felt she possibly could, and so quickly.

Although there was one thing that was bothering her.

She had been on the ship for a week, and had been shown the bridge briefly, Lieutenant Worf explaining that the next week he would begin her introduction to the ship's weaponry system, and of course the necessary cross training in navigation. She had looked around, impressed, at the state-of the-art technology. She practically was itching to roam around, to be able to examine the equipment. Then her eyes had lit on the impressive chair in the center of the bridge.

"Lieutenant Worf, when might I be meeting with the Captain?" Judith asked tentatively.

Worf cleared his throat. Unbeknownst to Judith, he had been wondering the very same thing. Officially, she should have been formally introduced to her Senior Commanding Officer within the first forty-eight hours upon her boarding of the_ Enterprise_. As of the present time, the Captain had yet to schedule an appointment with his new specialty security Lieutenant. A Lieutenant whose immediate duties would involve directly protecting the very man himself in question, and to protect his crew and ship.

Worf was puzzled. He knew that the Captain had most definitely expressed trepidation before her arrival, but Worf, Geordi, Counselor Troi, and Data had given the Captain almost glowing reviews of their impressions of her so far, as well as Commander Riker, although his assessment of their new crew member was more along the lines of physical appreciation.

The Commander had given a low, long whistle when he first saw Lieutenant Bethulia striding across engineering towards himself and Worf. Worf had snarled and shot him a look that brooked no question to his thoughts, and Will Riker immediately put his hands up in defeat and acceptance with a low chuckle and grin at Worf.

He had then greeted the Lieutenant professionally and inquired as to how she was acclimating to her new life on board the _Enterprise._ Worf himself had been momentarily taken aback by her beauty as her face lit up in genuine happiness as she stated that she was proud to be serving on the _Enterprise_, and was finding her new environment fascinating and enlightening. Riker looked pleased by her statement, and extended his hand in welcome.

"Mr. Worf will be an excellent CO for you, Lieutenant. If you need anything or have any questions or special requests, please do not hesitate to come to me." Worf shot him another dangerous look. Riker raised his brows at him, and strode off.

Judith had chuckled softly; he was harmless, and known amongst the female crew members to be a bit of a "ladies man", although ship gossip had it that he and Deanna, with whom he had had a very long and complicated on-and-off relationship over the years, were attempting to work on things again. She was not about to step on her fledgling friend Deanna's toes, and truthfully, Judith had never been in any type of romantic relationship.

Ever.

She had always been too busy with her various self-set goals and missions, and, quite frankly, had not yet met a man who had in the least bit attracted her. At times she wondered if she had_ any_ sexuality in her, if maybe she was missing some genetic code for it. It had never bothered her in the least, but it did cause her frustration at times as she had no way to understand how others reacted to her sexually as she herself had never reacted as such to anyone, and it was difficult to assess their possible reactions since she had no basis for comparison.

Worf was as confused as she as to why she had not been requested for an audience with the Captain as of yet. It was extremely unlike the Captain to balk or put off his duties, no matter how menial. Until she had met with him and had gained his official approval, she would not be allowed to serve upon the bridge, which was obviously a very necessary part of her duties. Adding to this, she technically could not be considered as a permanent addition to the crew of the _Enterprise_ until his official welcome.

In as such, Judith's position on board the_ Enterprise_ wasn't official until the Captain formally said so, and therefore she felt this hanging over her head as she adjusted to her new home and position.

"The Captain is a very busy man, Lieutenant. I am sure it is not intentional that he has not yet had time to be introduced to you, but I will ask him again today when he might be able to meet with you."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Of course, Lieutenant."

"Is the Captain..." She searched for the right way to state her potentially unpolitical words. "Is the Captain uneasy with my mission and placement aboard his ship?"

Worf assessed his new Lieutenant. With each passing moment he worked with her, he was finding that he respected her more and more, both as a fellow Starfleet member and as an individual. He was an honourable man, and was not one to placate his subordinates, or friends, with soothing words that were just that; words. He prided himself on the fact that he stated things as they were, and he respected that Lieutenant Bethulia was seemingly as no-nonsense as himself.

Worf stood, looking down at his Lieutenant with his ever present and usual stern look, but meeting her eyes.

"I will be honest, with you, Lieutenant, the Captain did express concern before your joining the crew, but your interactions with the ship's personnel so far have been relayed to him, and I can assure you that the assessments at this point have been quite positive."

"I thank you, Lieutenant." Judith recognized the truthfully stated admission, and was glad of it. She had an abhorrence of false words meant to diffuse a possibly uncomfortable situation, and regarded those who used such tactics with no small amount of scorn. She knew how to read an individual's "body language" in just about any race of humanoid. She respected and trusted her CO even more for his honesty.

Worf nodded. "I will request an audience with him for you today with a... suggestion that it happen very soon. I will contact you with the time. That will be all for now, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir".

As his charge strode off, he again pondered just exactly what was holding up the Captain.

"Worf to Captain Picard."

"Yes, Lieutenant." Picard immediately answered Worf's com call.

"Captain, would it be convenient at this time for you and I to have a discussion?"

-oOoOoOo-

Captain Jean Luc Picard sat at his ready room desk and sighed. He suspected what this discussion was to be about. He knew that it had to happen, and soon. What he didn't understand was why he was... so bloody _uncomfortable_ about meeting his new Lieutenant. Every day, he called up her holo pics and looked at them, reading and re-reading all the files and information that was available on her.

He had heard about the mysterious initial meeting and discussion in Ten Forward with Guinan, and he eventually geared himself up to approach her and quietly inquired about her strange words to the newly-arrived Lieutenant Bethulia.

In a private, secluded corner, he had sat down with his old, OLD friend.

"Guinan, what was that all about the other night?" He didn't even bother to mention 'what' he was talking of. With Guinan, he had long before realised that she _always_ knew what someone was speaking of. There was never any need for clarification.

"Now, Jean Luc, you know that that is between Judith and myself to discuss when the time is right, and when the time is right for you and her to discuss things, you'll know it. She is very strong, obviously physically and in intelligence, but she has weaknesses. Her past and, I'll say, her emotions, whether she tries to hide and erase them or not. You'll be assured, I imagine, that she is learning and growing every day, and she _will_ learn how to use her past to her, and _your_, advantage."

Totally out of character for him, Jean Luc slammed his open hand onto the table, creating a loud _bang_ and making their drink glasses jump, attracting a bit of attention. A stern look from both him and Guinan sent everyone back to their business, and quickly.

"Enough with the mysterious statements, Guinan. This woman is a cold blooded killer. Is she safe to be aboard my ship and amongst my crew?"

Guinan sat back, her regal energy that she usually hid under her proverbial bushel almost a palatable thing radiating from her. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Captain Picard, _YOU NEED_ to meet this girl before you judge her. She is essential to the future of your crew, and essential for YOU, and in more ways then just _militant_ protection. She is of absolutely _NO_ danger to anyone on this ship. The only danger will be to _HER_ because of her millenniums old born-and-bred code of honour to protect this crew and _YOU_. She has unquestionably devoted herself to her mission, to the point of allowing herself to be killed in the line of her duty to do what is necessary, and without any question or an iota of fear." She paused, her obvious simmering anger abating, as her mind switched gears. "Or are there other reasons for your worry, Jean Luc?" Guinan quirked her head to the side, studying him, appraising his reactions.

Jean Luc sat back, flabbergasted. He had never heard Guinan be so adamant, so ANGRY at him before. And her last question had hit much, _much_ to close to the possible heart of the matter. He found that he had no words to say. His anger visibly diminished, and with it, the tension that had been between them evaporated.

He sat back with a sigh, reached for his glass, and took a long sip from it.

"Jean Luc, there are things that are sometimes meant to be, as trite as that may sound. You have always been the stoic, the loner, the bachelor... Is it possible that you are concerned that this girl might..."

"ENOUGH, Guinan. I am not about to discuss this with you when you only give me riddles." He sat back, some of his tension back, obvious in the set of his jaw and his shoulders to those who knew what to look for, seemingly debating with himself with how much to say. "Guinan, I don't know _why_ I am reacting so..."

"Meet her, Jean Luc. Stop retreating from what needs, what might be _fated_, to happen."

And so he had met with Worf, made noises about menial but imperative Federation reports that had held him up, and scheduled the meeting with Lieutenant Bethulia for the following morning at 07:00 hours. Worf nodded, looking at the Captain for a moment, and said that he would inform the Lieutenant about the meeting.

-oOoOoOo-

Jean Luc woke up in the middle of the night, coming out of an... extremely pleasant and yet profoundly disturbing dream.

He remembered the feel of the woman pressed against him, her curves melding against his body, making him tremble as if he would die if he couldn't have more. He grasped the woman's chin, and raised it... Judith Bethulia's exquisite, exotic face looked up at him... He felt as if he was drowning in her eyes.

"_Jean Luc..._" She had whispered...

"_Merde_." He awoke with a start. He sat up out of the bed, stood, and began pacing. He glanced at the clock, 03:01. Just four hours until he physically faced this woman who had been disturbing his waking thoughts, and now his damn _dreams..._

_"What the hell is happening to me?"_ He went to the sink in his bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face, then turned and stalked around his quarters. He knew he would not be getting any more sleep. He grabbed some comfortable clothing and swimming attire. A little bit of exercise in a cool (if not _cold_) pool might help him clear his mind.

-oOoOoOo-

Judith had considered the sonic and the tub, and had decided against both. She still felt distressed after her "memory" dream, (as she categorized it; she categorized all of her various dreams as she tried not to call them "nightmares" and thus give them even more power in her psyche) and was filled with tension and anxiety about her quickly approaching and much awaited meeting with the ship's Captain.

Data had shown her the ship's large pool for swimming laps and recreation. Glancing at the clock again, (02:34), she decided to go for a relaxing few laps in a warm pool.

She walked the halls, seeing no one but the occasional on duty personnel. Arriving at the pool room's doors, she entered. She looked around, seeing that it was completely empty of occupants, as she had figured. She thought, absently chewing on her thumb as she did so. She was still upset enough by her dreams, and, being alone, did not recognise this "tell' of nervousness in her body language at the time.

"Computer, please raise the pool's temperature to 26 degrees, Celsius."

Judith stepped over to the pool room door's control panel. She knew that locking the doors from the inside was a no no, but it was almost three in the morning, and who would be as much of a disturbed insomniac as she to come here? Besides, the door would chime if someone wanted entry.

Judith liked to swim as she liked to sleep.

Naked.

She let her fingers run over the door's control panels, effectively locking them until she released them. She was only going in for a quick, muscle relaxing dip. Although she was in peak physical form, there were old wounds that still caused aches that no amount of medical technologies could fix completely. The warmth of the water always served to soothe her aches and her nerves. She quickly shed the hastily donned garment and slipped into the deliciously warm water, diving under.

-oOoOoOo-

Captain Picard walked up to the doors of the pool room, and almost ran into them as they didn't open automatically.

"What in the hell?" His already disgruntled mood escalated to pure irritation. He attempted to manually override the lock, but to no avail. It must have been locked by someone from the inside. Probably some romantically inclined couple... Well, it was certainly not a good choice to lock him out this morning. His thoughts only served to irritate him even more. He rang the chime a couple of times with no response.

"To hell with this. Computer, manual override, Picard, Alpha Nine Nine Tango."

The doors obligingly slipped open. The first thing Jean Luc noticed was the warmth of the room. Whomever was utilizing the pool preferred their water warm, as he usually did, but definitely _not _at this warm temperature during his current frame of mind.

He looked around the room, and saw no one. He made his way around to the side of the pool and noticed a silky garment dropped carelessly on the floor beside the pool. He looked around again. Where was the other person? Had there been a simple malfunction to the doors? Whose garments had been left?

He picked them up, and he smelt a subtle but intoxicating perfume waft up from the soft silk. He refrained himself from bringing the clothes to his nose to smell even more deeply. The scent was subtle, and did not smell of a manufactured and chemical scent, but of natural oils and perhaps a hint of musk... even the slightest whiff of it did nothing to calm his already incensed mood.

It was at this moment that he looked into the pool, and saw a very obviously female form quickly doing underwater laps, agile as a fish. She had already done three in the Olympic sized pool as he stood, transfixed, knowing that he should leave, but amazed at the lung capacity of this woman. She had probably been under the water for longer than the three laps; that would explain her not hearing the door chime.

At this point, the woman reached the far end of the pool from Picard, and broke the surface with a gasp, letting the air rush back into her lungs. She flicked back thick, long, dark hair, and proceeded to climb up the rungs out of the pool...

Completely nude.

Picard stood at the opposite side of the pool, knowing that he should immediately leave, and as quietly as possible, but then he realized she would hear the doors sliding open and know that there had been someone in the room with her. He knew he should immediately turn and head for the changing room, or clear his throat to acknowledge his presence while he immediately turned himself from viewpoint. Instead he stood, still utterly transfixed.

She had her back turned to him, and was wringing out her long hair, starting at the nape of her elegantly long neck, and down to the very ends, slightly lighter in colour, which reached her beautifully formed waist, a waist that would make an hourglass turn green with envy. Her form was perfect, muscles rippling under her water-dropped skin, curves that were unbelievable. The curve and the line of her back and neck, he couldn't stop tracing it with his eyes. The shape of her perfect bottom... He couldn't move. It was then that he then noticed the line of tattoos along her left arm and the back of her neck, dark, exotic looking. He noticed the white and pink lines of scars crossing her back that did nothing to detract from her perfection. If anything, they only added to her mysterious seductive beauty.

_"Tattoos? Scars? OH MY LORD..." _Jean Luc suddenly knew who the vision in front of him was that he couldn't tear his eyes from.

He still stood there as Lieutenant Bethulia suddenly raised her head, still not facing him, seemingly smelling the air in the pool room.

She whipped around, in a defensive pose. She saw the man on the other side of the pool and immediately relaxed her form, but stared at him with those wide eyes, in total shock.

_"Oh, god..." _Picard still couldn't move. He looked across at Judith Bethulia, into her eyes, and was lost.


	8. Chapter 8: Awakenings

_**Chapter 8: Awakenings**_

Judith stood still after recovering from her initial defense reaction to the smell of an unknown male in her presence, catching her completely off of her guard. She stood, water slowly slipping down the curves of her body, as she regarded the man in front of her.

He was standing as still as she, holding the garments that she had so carelessly tossed to the side before her impromptu swim. He was looking into her eyes, not speaking, not moving.

Judith calmly strode over to the man, reaching for the silky clothes that he held out to her.

Still, neither of them said a word.

Jean Luc didn't know if she realized what she was doing to him. As she slowly made her way over to him, seemingly completely unconscious of her nudity, her astonishing beauty. Her hips rolled as she walked with a feline like grace on the balls of her feet, the muscles in her torso and amazingly strong, yet so very long and feminine legs rippling...

He thought he would become undone.

As Judith accepted her clothes from the man, she suddenly realized the position she was in, and was suddenly and completely shocked at herself. _She_, who balked at wearing form fitting attire in front of others, felt completely at ease at the moment, looking into the eyes of the man in front of her, this total and complete stranger.

He was older than she, probably significantly. He carried himself with an obvious regal air, his slim body still showing fine musculature and wide shoulders. He was bald, but was one of those types of men who looked good bald, sexy even... Had she just thought that? She had _never_ had thought of anyone in a sexual manner before.

She still was mesmerized by his eyes. A deep mix of green and grey, she felt as if she could look into them all night. _"WHAT in the hell is happening to me? What __**is**__ this?" _Her mind and emotions were running rampant, a state that Judith's mind and emotions most assuredly were never in.

No one had ever seen her naked, not totally, since she had been very, very small. She in no way understood her reactions to this man. A normal reaction for her would be to either be immediately confrontational and demand the reason for his presence, or to be apologetic and make a quick, embarrassed escape, but in both situations she would have immediately covered her nudity.

As she kept eye contact with him, she reached for her garments and her fingers brushed his for just a brief instant... and it was as if an electrical shock had run through her body. She couldn't help herself, the frisson of energy coursed through her limbs, and she, always so in control of her emotions and body, audibly gasped.

The man did, also, almost more of a groan than a gasp. His eyes closed, and when he opened them, several heartbeats later, he seemed to have regained some control over his speech.

"Lieutenant, are you alright? I sincerely apologize for interrupting your swim. I will leave you be now."

"How do you know who I am?" Judith asked, his words seeming to awaken her normal acutely observant state, although she said the words as though it on automatic pilot, through a fog in her mind.

"I am Captain Jean Luc Picard. I believe we are scheduled for a bit more... formal meeting in just a few hours? I recognized you from the holo pics in your files. I again apologize for the intrusion on your privacy, and will leave you now." He stepped back, giving her an almost formal bow of his head, and made for the doors.

"OH MY GODS..." Judith fell into an almost complete panic mode. "Captain, I am SO sorry, this is my fault, I should not have been in here at this hour, I know I shouldn't have locked the doors, I shouldn't be... naked... oh god..." She knew she was babbling. As she spoke, she hastily, albeit a little late, started pulling her sheath over her head, giving the Captain an even more advantageous view of her perfectly shaped breasts as she lifted her arms to pull he garment over herself. He couldn't help but notice in his current hyper-aware state a single drop of water drip off of one of her erect nipples... He closed his eyes again, fighting not to lose himself totally, irrevocably, and completely.

Judith hastily pulled her loose pants on, and turned to the Captain, her face bright red in her utter humiliation and in her conflicting and alien feelings.

"Sir, this was entirely my fault, and I will readily accept any punishment necessary for my transgressions. I will leave you now sir." She practically ran to the doors.

"Lieutenant? It is alright, simply (_"Simply?"_ He thought to himself as he said the words aloud) an odd... coincidence, that is all. Let's let this go and move forward from this point, and forget that this ever happened. I see no transgressions that have occurred here. I will see you at our scheduled time in my ready room?"

Judith stopped, and looked back at her Captain. Again, their eyes connected. She didn't know what the feelings running coursing through her body were. She, _she_, actually wanted to turn back into the room and press herself to him... and at the very same time, because of this, she wanted to flee.

"Yes, sir, absolutely sir. Thank you."

"At ease, Lieutenant. I will see you soon."

Judith scurried out the doors.

Picard dropped into a chair by the poolside before his knees gave out on him. Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad. He had seen stunning women in his time, had had beautiful women in his bed, rarely, as he was not one to overly indulge in the carnal senses. But this woman, she was something entirely different. He had had to engage every bit of his willpower not to reach for her and take her here, right then.

The thing that scared him the most was it wasn't just a burn of lust that he was feeling. He had the willpower to overcome that. It was everything, his almost addictive reading of her files, his constant thoughts of her. And now after this, he burned even more for her. He didn't know what it was, but it was not just simple lust.

"Computer, drop water temperature to 5 degrees Celsius."

"Sir, it would be highly recommended that you consider a higher water temperature, as your body might go into shock from the effects of the difference of your body temperature to the water's temperature..." the computer stated.

"Make it so."

He already _WAS_ in shock.

-oOoOoOo-

Judith had run back to her quarters and had immediately jumped into her sonic shower. Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute. _What _had just happened? Wasn't she just thinking the other day that she felt that she didn't have any sexuality in her, having NEVER been attracted to another before...

Before her new Captain. She WANTED him. Wanted to touch and feel his skin against hers, to be able to smell more of him then the slight whiff of the scent that she had caught of him. She wanted to give her body, her sudden burning passion, to him. She felt that she was feeling more than just a traditional hormonal human carnal mating desire, a desire that she had always looked down upon when others who succumbed to it as a weakness. Now she understood.

Oh, now she COMPLETELY understood.

He was her Captain, a man who had already vocally expressed trepidation to his commanding officers over her being on his ship. The very man that she had sworn to protect with her life if necessary.

She was in very, very deep trouble.


	9. Chapter 9: Simply

_**Chapter 9: Simply**_

Judith was standing at a formal military "parade rest" even though Captain Picard had told her she could be at ease after arriving at his ready room at precisely the appointed time. Lieutenant Commander Worf and Counselor Troi were also present. All were sitting with the exception of Judith, who remained at rigid attention, staring directly ahead, not impolite or egalitarian, but at the same time avoiding all eye contact with her new Captain.

Her new Captain who had precisely four hours earlier thrown her entire view of her own personal world off of it's axis, and had seen everything nature had bestowed her with, as well as what scars her many battles had left behind as reminders.

At the same time, Jean Luc Picard was obviously not his usual self either. He had welcomed his new crew member into his office, and welcomed her to sit down and be at ease after she stood at attention. She had deferred, obviously being more "at ease" by keeping her full military bearing intact. Picard had ordered his usual Earl Grey tea, hot, and had offered refreshments to the others in the room. All had deferred. He currently now sat at his desk, observing Lieutenant Judith Bethulia's stance and complete military, professional demeanor.

He also couldn't help but observe how, even with her Starfleet uniform on, she was as stunning as ever, her dark hair, shot throughout with gold strands, rolled into a tightly coiled thick braid at the nape of her neck, except for one long strand that had worked its way out of the tightly pulled back hairstyle. The lone strand hung in front of her left eye, strangely giving her a more approachable aspect than her tightly wound body and demeanor otherwise would have given. Her hair, pulled out of her face, served to bring attention to the elegantly long curve of her neck and her regal, high cheekbones. Her curves were accentuated by the form fitting uniform, almost too much so. She wore no makeup, her perfect complexion (except for a long, paper thin, curved scar that ran perilously close to her left eye, but still taking nothing away from her beauty) and her huge, dark eyes, curved slightly at the edges, like a cat's, needed no adornment. He pondered how he had also compared her to a feline after watching her move earlier in the morning by the pool... Picard abruptly changed his potentially derailing and dangerous thoughts.

Judith, upon entering the Captain's ready room, was immensely relieved to see that her immediate CO and the Counselor were present as well. She still was extremely on edge, determined to show her new Captain that she was professional, competent, and ready to assume all tasks necessary to protect him and his ship. And she was desperate to show him that she wasn't still in the throes of total confusion over her physical and emotional reaction to his presence.

As Judith stood "at ease", Lieutenant Commander Worf was running on about her duties and her extreme competence at them thus far aboard ship, and Deanna was saying about how well she was adapting and fitting in with the crew. Worf was bringing up her and Lieutenant Data's achievement's with the new battle and survival training programming with the holodecks, when the Captain suddenly interrupted.

"Lieutenant, how do you like it aboard the_ Enterprise _thus far?''

Worf immediately silenced himself, with a slight clearing of his throat.

Deanna was looking between the Captain and Judith, appraising the undercurrents she was receiving. She was sensing some kind of extreme confusion and, well, extreme sexual tension between the two. _"But how can that be? They just met..."_ She watched the interplay between the two with interest.

"Sir, I have found the _Enterprise _to be the epitome of Starfleet technology, sir, and her crew the epitome of Starfleet at it's finest. I am very proud to have been given the opportunity to serve you and the Enterprise, sir, and endeavor to serve her and you to the utmost of my abilities. Sir." She stood rigidly, feeling like a complete dolt.

"Lieutenant, please, sit. You are not under any sort of interrogation or test here. Please, don't just be "at ease", please, relax. You are making_ ME _feel uneasy. Please, sit." With this he gave a slight smile, and the palatable tension radiating from both Judith and, to a lesser degree, Worf, eased.

Judith, with a bit of apprehension on her face, sat. She still did would not make eye contact with the Captain.

_"She has been through much more than the usual Starfleet training. She has gone through some extreme military training a well..."_ Jean Luc thought to himself. Her almost archaic form of address to him was a bit unnerving. He hadn't encountered anyone that had graduated academy quite so... rigid. Even Data had been more, well, human, when he had first met him. _"What kind of training did they give this girl that she is so militant? Or is she simply nervous after earlier?" _With a visible shake of his head, he attempted to clear away his earlier memories yet again and tried to focus on how to address his new crew member.

"Lieutenant, I am sorry that it has taken me so long to introduce myself to you and to properly welcome you aboard the _Enterprise_. I have thoroughly studied your..." Jean Luc subtly cleared his throat before continuing. "available files on your history and training, and I will admit that I was, and still am, slightly concerned over your being able to find a particular, niche, for your special and extraordinary, uhm, talents aboard the _Enterprise_." Picard was visibly struggling to voice his concerns politically without insulting Judith or making her feel even more ill at ease then she obviously already was, although she was making a great effort at hiding her discomfort. Again Picard wondered if it was because she was concerned over her placement aboard his ship, or her earlier interaction with him. Or both.

"Please be assured that I have heard nothing but the best reports of your performance and acclimation to the ship within the past week, and I am more than willing to give you your chance to prove yourself." With this, he gave her another smile, trying to make her feel more welcome. "Your duties are understood, and I understand that while you will be performing the tasks of any Starfleet Security Lieutenant's duties, there might be occurrences where your special training will be both necessary, and, I must admit, welcome." He looked up from his fine porcelain cup of tea at this, and finally caught her eye.

Judith felt the almost physical snap of connection again when their eyes met, at the same time she assimilated his words. _"He understands what I'm here for and accepts it..." _Not breaking eye contact, she nodded at her Captain.

"Thank you, sir. I truly appreciate the chance sir, and the chance to prove my worth to you and the _Enterprise_."

Jean Luc looked back at her, and realized that the words she had just spoken were from her heart, and not just the programmed respectful responses that she had been taught. He nodded in acceptance of her words, but couldn't seem to break eye contact with her. He finally looked away, with a feeling of almost a physical disconnect.

"Lieutenant Commander Worf, I believe you were rambling on about Lieutenant Bethulia and Lieutenant Commander Data's achievements with the training programs at the holodeck. Perhaps a demonstration this afternoon is in order, say 14:00 hours?" He looked towards Worf.

Worf looked, if at all possible for Worf to appear in any way disturbed, disturbed.

The stoic and intimidating Klingon cleared his throat before speaking. "Captain, although I have been given the basic profiles of the programs, and Lieutenant Commander Data has kept me well appraised of the progression of such, I admit that I have... yet to personally experience any of the programs, nor has anyone else with the obvious exception of Lieutenant Bethulia." Worf looked ill at ease.

"Has not Commander Data _'experienced'_ any of these programs as he helped with the data entry?" Picard seemed truly puzzled.

Judith, unlike her immediate CO, felt completely at ease in this particular subject. She crossed one of her long legs over the other, a movement not unnoticed by Picard.

_"Concentrate, Picard,_ _concentrate, you're not some teenage cadet..."_ He chastised himself mentally.

"Captain, I have had specific demands from Starfleet Command on the programming, as well as my own personal expectations. I have been fine tuning some of the, well, easier training simulations, but they require certain safety measures to be put in play for individuals who have not been through the same..." At this, she shot an apologetic look at her CO "training as I have for them to be completely physically and emotionally safe."

The room had a heavy moment of silence as her words sunk in. Worf was the first to break the silence.

"Captain, I have made set plans to accompany the Lieutenant this week to ascertain the system and it's safety and potential for danger after her..."

"Lieutenant Bethulia, do feel that one of your basic holodeck training modules can be observed today at 14:00 hours?" Picard interjected, noticing his Security Head's look of surprise, and concern, at the interruption.

Judith looked up and again looked Jean Luc directly in the eye. Again, the connection, but also the self assurance that he had been looking for.

With an arched eyebrow and a slight tilt and nod of her head, she addressed her Captain. "Absolutely, sir. I would be happy to give a demonstration to you and whomever you would like to be present."

"Very well, then, 14:00 hours at Holodeck 2? Mr. Worf, Deanna, will you please inform Lieutenant Commander Data and La Forge and Commander Riker to be present, as well? Thank you, Lieutenant, I greatly look forward to it. Dismissed."

Everyone stood up, including the Captain. Judith was about to seemingly give a salute to Jean Luc, but seemingly thought better of it at the last second and gave him a low, hand clasped bow in respect.

"Thank you, Captain." As she rose, their eyes met again. Both, at the same time, felt the frisson of energy pass between them. She nodded, and left the room.

Worf and Deanna remained behind. Picard looked towards his friends and comrades, inquiringly.

"Captain, I must state that I have... concerns... about the intensity and possibility of harm to Lieutenant Bethulia from these training modules. I understand that Starfleet Command has approved, and actually encouraged them, but Commander Data has agreed with me on this, sir. Some of these have no safety backup, and..."

Jean Luc looked at his head of Security and nodded in understanding.

"That is why I wish to see her program in action for myself. Her records from Starfleet are concise on her abilities, but I will not allow one of my crew members to endanger herself, Starfleet Command's requests or not. Please ask Beverly to be present as well."

"Thank you, Captain." Worf nodded, making eye contact with his Captain, non-verbally accepting the acknowledgment of his own worries in regards to his new charge, and left the room.

Deanna remained behind.

"Yes, Counselor Troi?" Picard said with an audible sigh. He had a feeling he knew what his ever perseptive ship's counselor wanted to discuss.

"Captain, with all do respect..." She also sighed, dropping all pretenses. "Jean Luc, is there anything you wish to share with me?"

Picard paused for a moment, seemingly engaged in a heated debate with himself, and finally sat back down at his desk, with the air of a man who has lost a battle.

"I can't hide a damn thing from you, Deanna, can I? Teaches me for taking on a Betazed as my ship's counselor." They smiled at one another.

"Yes, as... uncomfortable it might be for me to touch upon this... issue... with anyone, Counselor, including myself, I feel it must be addressed if the Lieutenant is to be able to remain on the ship and perform her duties without fear of, well, my making her feel... uncomfortable." He suddenly stood up, pacing in obvious frustration.

"Deanna, I don't know what it is about her, ever since I read her file, and especially since I saw her damn holo in the file, I can't stop thinking of her. I can't believe I'm even discussing this with you, about one of my crew members." He chuckled. "I must sound daft."

Deanna stood up and laid a hand on Picard's arm as he stood looking out the window at the stars as the _Enterprise_ flew by them.

"No, Jean Luc, you do not. As soon as she walked into the room, I felt an immensely strong connection between the BOTH of you." Picard paused in his perusal of the stars at this, his body tensing slightly, the only sign that he had picked up on Deanna's insinuation.

_"BOTH of us?" _He thought...

" I have also felt emotions from you that have indicated confusion and trepidation this past week. Is this why you avoided a meeting with her for so long?"

Picard said nothing, still looking out of the window. He gave, after a few seconds, but a slight nod in response.

"Deanna, I WILL not compromise my integrity or take advantage of my position of authority. I do not understand what is taking place, but I will not allow myself to..."

"Jean Luc, you might not have a choice in the matter. It is a very rare thing, but have you ever heard of what we on Betazed call..."

"ENOUGH!" He stopped himself, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"Deanna, I am sorry for reacting so strongly, but I am not even considering that something like that is possible. I will admit that I am apparently human for all my pretenses at being the consummate bachelor, married to his ship. I will freely admit to you, and you alone, that I find the Lieutenant highly intriguing and... very attractive in many aspects, and beyond the mere physical ones, but it is a passing fancy, and that is all. I suppose we have all met someone in our lifetime that we were taken with, but nothing would, or could come of it..." He trailed off. "That is all it is." He realised that he sounded like a man trying to convince himself as well as others.

Deanna Troi straightened her back and faced her Captain, her patient, and her friend, and looked him squarely in the eye.

"Well, Captain, I'm afraid that you might be misleading yourself, and putting great pressure on yourself _and_ Judith. Because I feel the same exact feelings from her directed toward you_._"

At this Picard visibly froze, completely.

"And she is just as frightened, if not more so, over her physical reactions and emotions in regards to you. There IS a bond, Captain, and neither of you will, or should, ignore it for long, and to hell with your stubbornness." Picard shot her an amazed look. "There are things that ARE meant to be, Jean Luc. I will look into this type of situation some more, and do some research, but in the meantime, stop berating yourself". She strode from the room, effectively halting any chance to try to argue the matter any longer with her, and therefore leaving him to contemplate what they had discussed by himself.

Jean Luc Picard went to his desk, and sat down slowly. Very slowly.

_"What is happening?"_


	10. Chapter 10: The Unveiling

_**Chapter 10: The Unveiling**_

Judith was in Holodeck 2, not having yet initiated any of the battle programming that she and Data had created. She was indulging in preparing her mind; her body was as ready and as trained as ever to take whatever abuse was thrown at it. Her emotions, though, her _damn emotions_, were another thing entirely. Her Master would be extremely displeased at her extreme lack of emotional, and yes, her_ physical_, control.

She was in the re-creation of her Master's Temple, breathing in, breathing out... Standing in a perfect and powerfully grounding "Horse Stance", eyes closed, mind closed off to everything and anything around her except the coming battle, well, _demonstration_, that she was to be in the midst of in just an hour.

"Focus, Judith of Bethulia. Your mind controls your emotions, your emotions control your body. To perform your duty with honour and grace, you must close off all emotions." The Holo version of her Master spoke as he circled her.

Her mind still focused, she heard the quiet _wisp_ of the Holodeck doors opening. She remained in her pose, her eyes not opening, but her eyebrow raised as she gave a silent grin.

"Data, are we not a little early?"

"It is intriguing that a human... and please do not take any offense to that, Judith... might be able to detect an individual's prescience without any visual or audible recognition, since I realize that my particular movements are quite silent..." Data started.

"Exactly, Data. Excluding the visual, which too many life forms depend on to the degree that they are crippling their natural abilities of audible input. You hardly make any noise at all in your movements. Your silence, and the particular lack of olfactory input, alerted me that it was you."

Data paused, obviously processing her words.

"Do you feel comfortable with this... requested performance?" Data asked, changing the course of the present topic to the one he felt was most important.

Judith's spine became absolutely rigid. She suddenly, with almost no visual warning to the human eye, whipped around out of her stance and landed on cat feet to face Data.

"By what ideals are you implying that I should not demonstrate my abilities, and your programming skills, by this... presentation?" Her head lifted and her eyes flashed dangerously. "Are you implying that this is to be for mere... _entertainment_ value?"

Data quickly moved to her side, reaching for her. She flinched back visibly.

"Judith, I am only attempting to state my concern over your safety and well-being, we yet to test all of the..."

"NO ONE has EVER expressed concern over me, Lieutenant Commander Data." Judith looked him in the eye, defiantly. "I am a … disposable resource. I would greatly appreciate it if you did not judge my abilities, or lack there of, until you witness them." Her eyes were literally glowing a deep red in her anger, the red glimmering in the corners of her irises.

Data stepped back, momentarily taken aback by her fierceness, her rawness, and the appearance of her eyes.

Again, he reached for her.

"Judith, Lieutenant Bethulia, if you prefer, please, I am truly only expressing concern over your well being." Data paused, seemingly at loss for words to express his thoughts. Which he was unsure of, admittedly, to himself.

From the corner of the Temple the holo-image version of her Master made a slight giggling noise. Data looked over at the ancient old Asian man with his hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his heavily adorned robes. It was more than a little disconcerting to hear the noise in the context of the particular discussion going on. With a slight, almost mocking nod of his head at Data, he stepped back and disappeared from the holodeck re-creation, his giggling still ringing hauntingly.

Data had only been recently enabling his "emotion" programming chip with any success. He was having difficulties dealing with the overwhelming sensations that accompanied having emotions. He had, thus far, experienced 656 different emotions, and one emotional breakdown.

He had felt a strong pull towards the new security Lieutenant. A definite friendship, if not... Well, he was not able to process anything further at the present time, but since he had met Judith, he had felt an affinity towards her, and a concern for her well being, at the very least. He most definitely had a concern for her seeming lack of emotions so much of the time. Even more so than his, almost akin to his personality before he truly understood the word "_friend". _Even before his emotion chip had been enabled, when he had first arrived to the _Enterprise, _he had strove to be human. It seemed as if Judith strove to _not_ be human, that her goal was to be a purely physical being directed to duty and nothing else. The irony was not lost on Data, as the tables most certainly should have been turned. It was rare for him to witness any strong emotions with her, except for the time when she had laughed during their their initial meeting when his attempt at being a "gentleman" was a bit lost and more than a bit of a _faux pas_ on his part. Data found himself wishing that he could see her smile and laugh more often.

"Judith, please, I am only trying to show you that... I care. I know others in your life may have not, or even worse, pretended to care to use you for what they wanted and needed from you." At this, Judith looked ready to flame into anger again, but Data forged on. "There have been some that_ have_ cared, and not for just your abilities or for your... extremely beautiful physical appearance. I too understand what it is like to be used, and misunderstood. Please accept that as a truth and not just as a placation." Judith had looked at him, sharply and inquisitively, when Data had mentioned her appearance.

"I do not wish to see you harmed for the sake of the Federation's experiments. I too was once in a precarious position, certain Starfleet members wanted to... examine me to see what technology they could glean from my parts and workings. If it was not for people who truly cared about_ me_, than I would not be here, to tell you that I care."

He succeeded in placing his hand on her arm this time, and noticed that some of the fierce fire had left her eyes.

"_What was that?"_ Data, unlike most life forms, didn't ever have to second guess what he saw, he knew what he had seen in her eyes while she was in the midst of her anger. Unless his sef-diagnostic programming was offline and there was something wrong with his perception sensors, he was unable to experience a hallucination.

Judith sighed, and with the release of her breath, she also seemed to release her tension and anger at Data. She laid her hand over his that was still on her arm.

Data _felt_... something from that touch. Not the usual technological readings and such that he always received, but something akin to emotions. And an emotion and feeling that he had not experienced as of yet.

"I am sorry, Data, I have to admit it to someone. I am nervous. Not of an injury, but of not impressing Lieutenant Worf and Captain Picard. You made it seem like they wanted to put me on show or something. I apologize for lashing out at you in such a way, and thank you, I do indeed believe you when you say you care. It's just that when one let's one's emotions get involved in battle, things can go awry, and with Master being here..."

"Was that the old gentleman who was in the corner when I came in?" Data asked. "I do not remember programming him, or this room, either. He also seemed a bit... brusque. He could have at least introduced himself." Data was attempting to utilize his emotion chip to lighten the mood and joke with Judith. It in no way effect her as he expected, though. She paled.

"I programmed this Temple, it is a direct re-creation of my Master's. Data, you must promise me that you will NEVER activate this program without me. Master is... he's not a kind man. Please PROMISE me." Judith looked almost afraid, an emotion, but one Data most definitely did not to expect from her. And why?.

"I locked this program out from everyone with a very heavily encrypted code, I don't even know if the Captain could override it with his pass code, but I know you could, but its for your safety and the others. Please. I know I could get in serious trouble with the Captain if he knew, or if he knew you knew, you could, too. I don't expect you ever to do something dishonourable, but I can tell you Starfleet has given me _carte blanche_ when it comes to my personal training and those of others when it comes to this."

Data looked at her, her huge dark eyes looking up at him, beseechingly. He found that he could not look away.

"I will promise never to try to access this program alone, without you, unless I feel it to be in the utmost importance to save you from harm. But I must express concerns over you being here if it is so dangerous."

"Master will not harm me permanently, or... at not least anymore than he already has. I did not program him with a progressive thought structure; he will act and react as he did in life." Judith looked towards the corner where the old man had stood, with a look on her face that made Data think her thoughts were light years and life years away.

"With pain comes acceptance of your fate, and whatever you survive once, it gives you the knowledge and courage to be able to survive it again." She said it as almost a recitation, still staring off, lost in her thoughts and memories.

Data reached for Judith again, this time grasping her chin, forcing her to look at him again. Again, as he looked at her exquisite face, and felt her skin, he felt that... something, an emotion, a _feeling_, again.

"I promise not to come here alone, unless invited by you, or under the Captain's orders, or if I feel he needs to know, or if I feel you are in dire danger. That is the only promise I can make to you."

She looked back up at him, and finally nodded in acquiescence.

-oOoOoOo-

Holodeck 2 had been transformed into something from someone's darkest nightmares. It appeared to be part of a ship of some sort, but with technological accoutrements that appeared totally alien to those present.

Judith stood facing a small section of the Holodeck that had remained normal and had been set up with a sort of small stadium seating for those who were there to witness the demonstration, and the prior briefing. Lieutenant Commander Worf, Commander Riker, Counselor Troi, Dr. Crusher, and Lieutenant Commanders Data and La Forge were present, as well as the Captain.

"Permission to give an overview, Captain?" Judith looked at her Commanding Officer, still careful not to make eye contact.

"Of course, Lieutenant. Please, by all means." Picard sat back, feeling apprehensive. He didn't like the factor that he did not know exactly why. He knew that the holodeck had been turned into a portion of a Borg ship, or as close to a Borg ship that the Federation's current information could give appearance to.

He looked at Lieutenant Bethulia. She was wearing the "official" uniform that Starfleet had given her, the new design. He concentrated on the demonstration and what the Lieutenant was saying, trying to ignore the lithe, fluid way she moved and how the matte black fabric clung to her every curve as she began to pace back and forth as she began to explain what her "special" project was and to give an introduction to the demonstration.

He noticed that in addition to her _katana _that was always present on her, she had a low slung belt with two holsters for what he believed, if his memory served him, were to hold archaic but lethal ancient earth weapons called _sais, _sharp twin blades used in close hand-to-hand combat_._ She also had some other type of holsters attached to the belt with odd looking, intricately designed firearms, of all things. There was no phaser or modern weapon on her person from what he could see. She had the modified_ katana_, and the two holster belts. Her uniform left no place to hide anything else, except perhaps boot knives. He wondered exactly what in the hell this was, what Starfleet had been doing...

"I, of course, and with all deference to the ranks and persons themselves here today, must personally ask you on direct orders from Starfleet Command" here she shot a quick glance at Picard, who had a piqued look to his face "to use absolute discretion in what I am about to tell and show you. I know this seems... insubordinate of me to ask of you to do so, but these are the orders that I have been given. I also had to notify certain members of Starfleet of who was to be present here today. I am sorry for the subterfuge, the reason being is that if some of what I am about to tell you became common knowledge too quickly, there very well could be concerns within general society of fears based on unfounded and twisted facts, although the facts as we know them already so far could cause... quite a bit of panic, well enough. There have already been several extremely hostile contacts with the Borg, and Starfleet Command is doing everything in it's power to stop the threat as well as the rumors and panic."

"I believe we all are in concurrence, Lieutenant Bethulia. Please, by all means, continue." Picard stated, with an unmistakeable biting tone. The others looked at him, seemingly surprised at his tone while addressing her.

"Go on, then." He sat back, straightening his uniform jacket. Data and Worf exchanged looks of puzzlement at their Captain's abruptness.

Judith seemed to falter for a nanosecond, and then pulled herself together visibly and proceeded, her precise, slightly accented voice echoing throughout the chamber.

"I believe that all present here know that the Borg are a cybernetic life form. Reports state that when encountered, they either completely annihilate a ship, space station, or, with the recent reports coming in to Starfleet Intelligence, an entire pre-industrial life form planet (at this Deanna gasped), or they 'assimilate' them. By assimilation, I mean that they capture or take survivors, and incorporate them into their society."

"You mean they turn whatever life forms they encounter into cybernetic... creatures... like themselves?" Geordi asked, concern and slight horror at the thought exhibited by the look on his face and through his tone of voice.

"Yes, Lieutenant Commander, I do. The Borg have encountered, and assimilated, over twenty three different biologically advanced life forms to date that the Federation has learned of." Deanna and Beverly both gasped.

"But, that means that they have the medical knowledge of all of these races, they could..." Beverly started.

"I am sorry, Dr. Crusher, I will try to explain to the best of the knowledge given to me what is known." Judith took a deep breath, and went on. "They assimilate their captives via an as yet unknown process, but it is believed that the Borg do not operate as individuals, but rather as a 'collective', rather like the hive effect found in many insect colonies. There seem to be no individuals, only 'The Borg'. Captured Borg have referred to themselves as 'Three of Four', or something similar, when found in small wounded or abandoned groups. When a Borg is wounded or inaccessible, they abandon them. They do not seem to have any fear of our learning of their nature. Even under extreme... duress, the captives would not express anything other than that they were 'The Borg' and 'Resistance is futile. Everything will be Borg'."

The silence reigned in the room as the implications of the "duress" that the captives were put under and the implications of the words of the captives went through the minds of those present and sunk in.

"It has been hypothesized that with each intelligent life form they assimilate, they appear to inherit that newly assimilated life form's knowledge and technology and utilize it to their best interests." Everyone sat, rigid, silent, letting the information and the ramifications of it sink in. "It might also explain why they might annihilate one planet and assimilate a more technologically advanced race. They seek to improve themselves through their collective knowledge. A lesser life form is nothing more than... supplies and planetary resources."

Data spoke. "If the Borg are a 'collective', is this to mean that there is an individual who is the center of the collective mind, rather as in earth bee societies? A 'Queen'?"

Judith nodded in recognition of Data's astute question. "Unknown. The theory has been brought up. The assimilated life forms seem to die rather quickly after being removed from their comrades. This is similar to colonial insects removed from their hives..."

"Or are they dying because they are being tortured for information?" Beverly interrupted again, irate. "How do we know that there isn't some part of the individual's personality..."

Judith turned to face Dr. Crusher. "With all do respect, Doctor, we are looking at a possibility of war, and a war for every individual in the cosmos. The methods used to interrogate the captives are unfortunate, but a small casualty in the face of the main." Beverly looked ready to explode, before Judith continued.

"Experiments on 'un-assimilating' captives and attempting to re-incorporate their unique individuality has had some advances, _if_ they were newly assimilated. If they have been in the collective for years, the mechanical implants are too deeply interwoven and the body tissue has incorporated it far too much into their natural life support systems to remove without killing them. Also, it should be known that even some newly assimilated victims went mad when their implants were removed from them and therefore removed their mind from the Collective's mind." Judith looked at Beverly. "We did try, Dr. Crusher, and there is some hope, but to be able to defeat the enemy, we must know them. How they think, how they live." Beverly sat back, stunned. Judith continued to look at Dr. Crusher, trying to empathize with her feelings. "Doctor, _knowing_ the enemy is the first step in _defeating_ the enemy." From the edges of her sight, Judith saw Worf nod in acknowledgment of this often used, but true statement.

"Now to the important part. Defense. What we have learned in combat against them so far is this... They are able to adapt to any energy based technology within three exposures as a collective from all modern photon based weapons, or, within three casualties." Worf swore under his breath as he realised the ramifications of what Judith was saying. "The Collective apparently assimilates information, visual and/or physical, through the connection to the individually attacked Borg, and then creates an automatic personal defense shield against that weapon for each subsequent Borg that encounters that particular energy-fueled weapon. At this time, we have estimated that one has about three shots before they adapt, and subsequently, are shielded. This is one of the main reasons that once the Borg are engaged in battle, it is very difficult to deter them. They can beam to many current ship designs due to their assimilating life forms that have the knowledge of the ships operations and defenses. If the Borg ships are not destroyed almost immediately upon encounter, we must be prepared to resist them in close-quarter combat. This means that we must either develop a photon phaser technology that can adapt to receive power from different energy sources countless times, or we resort to my specialty."

Judith stepped over to Data. "Lieutenant Commander Data, might I borrow your sidearm for the demonstration?" He nodded, unsheathed it and handed it to her, rather slowly, with obvious trepidation. Judith checked the settings, and showed them all she had set the weapon to full power. A shot that hit on any part of the anatomy of most life forms would usually resort in a kill at this power.

"I'll use this to show how the Borg adapt to the current methods of defense. Lieutenant Commander Data and I (at this point, she looked at Data, who looked down, seemingly almost unwilling to take any recognition) programmed this demonstration with virtually physiologically and psychologically identical Borg combatants created within the specifications of the knowledge Starfleet knows of the Borg to date, and the program constantly and automatically receives uploads on any new information learned and integrates them into the program. You_ must_ see what we will be up against, and those chosen to be part of the defense training must encounter as close as possible to the real thing to have any chance of survival, let alone success."

Rather dramatically, Judith turned on one her booted heels and faced the simulated portion of a Borg vessel.

"Computer, place force field around observance perimeter." The observing looked at each other in with obvious worry over this action as the field went up, momentarily flickering and then becoming invisible.

"Computer, engage in Borg random combat scenario, twenty four variants, full contact, no safety fallback. Authorization Bethulia Alpha Beta Gamma Nine."

Data stood up suddenly, upending his chair. "Captain, I must strongly advise that Lieutenant Bethulia not be allowed to run this program. This is NOT a simulation."

Picard processed the scene in front of him. The computer had immediately responded the order, not even repeating it back to Lieutenant Bethulia for confirmation. Very odd, and extremely perfunctory. There was obviously no room for error or change with this program.

There stood Lieutenant Bethulia, facing twenty four of the most disturbing life forms he had ever seen. She glanced back at the group briefly and gave them a deferential nod, and with a look of almost anticipated satisfaction, proceeded to walk forward into the group of cyborgs, who were obviously in offensive mode.

And, for all practical purposes, they were real.


	11. Chapter 11: Revelations I

_**Chapter 11: Revelations I**_

Judith faced the group of Borg in front of her, slowly approaching them, her eyes constantly watching every movement around her, her ears processing each individual sound as much as possible and identifying it, olfactory glands smelling any difference in the slight movements of currents of air surrounding her, her body fully attuned to battle, and nothing else.

All thoughts of fear or humility over what her new comrades and commanding officers thought of her, all thoughts and knowledge that this was her and Starfleet's creation, and that she was not actually on a Borg ship, were erased from her thoughts.

She was there, in the moment. She was there to annihilate her opponents. And she had no other option but to do so, or die.

She had made some variations to the program since she and Data had done the initial installation, without the Lieutenant Commander's knowledge. She had overrode the safety backup system. Now even she could not stop the situation as it unfolded. She could not call the program to a halt if things went awry, nor could anyone else. If she did not kill her opponents, then they would kill her.

She had felt somewhat guilty, as if she was deceiving her new comrades by modifying the program with the codes that Starfleet Command had given her to use with their permission, if not with an outright order. With Data's help, she was quite pleased with how much more detail they had been able to bring to the program. She had never been quite able to recreate the smell of a Borg's life fluids draining from it's body once she defeated it in a holo re-creation. It would prove interesting to experience it in "reality" again.

Judith was no longer the Judith that had started to integrate with the crew of the _Enterprise_. Judith _wasn't _Judith any longer at this point.

She was now what she had been molded and created to be by her childhood, by her Master, by members of Starfleet.

She was now a weapon.

She aimed Data's phaser at a random figure, firing, hitting dead center of the head. The Borg disintegrated. She turned and fired a second, a third, a fourth time, unerringly. The second and third Borgs followed their first comrade into atomization. The fourth was pushed slightly backwards as the phaser hit it's shield with a green energy dispersion burst, and then continued forward, completely unharmed.

Judith heard none of the gasps from the people that she no longer registered as existing behind her.

She dropped the now useless phaser, pulled out her_ sais_, and attacked.

Borg, for the most part, were slow. That was a factor of battling them that could lead one to a lapse in concentration and a feeling of overconfidence, a deadly mistake for a warrior to make. Although they were slower than some of the other opponents that she had faced in her battles, the Borg had the advantage of a collective intelligence which more than made up for their lack of speed. They adapted quickly to an opponent's defensive and offensive techniques, and would often create strategically set traps. One could never let their guard down. Some were faster than others; the newly assimilated were faster, and it also depended on whomever the individual life form had been in their life. An assimilated Klingon male would be stronger and typically more dangerous than an assimilated human female.

Her being an obvious exception, of course.

She crossed her _sais_ and flashed them outwards. Two of the Borg immediately in front of her made exactly one more step apiece before suddenly sliding to the floor, one sliced most of the way through his torso, the other, a female, beheaded.

Judith sheathed the _sais_ and reached behind her, lightening quick, and pulled her_ katana_ from her back holster. She flicked her wrist; the blade slid out to it's full length, fully modified to her height and stature, an extension of her body.

She swung around, sensing the air movement as a Borg extended an arm towards her, slicing the enemy's arm from it's trunk. She thrust out, through it's torso, and with a smooth movement, pulled the blade out, then turned and sliced through three more.

_"Six... But then, I programmed the computer to run a random program... Stop counting, who knows what it will throw at me..."_ She chided herself.

By this point she was now completely surrounded by Borg. It certainly seemed like the computer had decided to test her. She continued to turn and slice, ducking phaser shots, some ricocheting off her _katana _without damage to the weapon with the energy dissipating or flying off like energy shrapnel.

Judith saw an opening in the circle with her peripheral vision, paused for a half second to consider, sheathed the_ katana_, and then took a running leap at the gap, which was a wall. The Borg definitely did not expect this action from her. She ran, leaped at the wall, actually ran _up_ it for three strides, then using her momentum and leg muscles to push off the wall, making a full flip and leaping over the circle of Borg, hitting the floor behind the group and immediately rolling up to face them in a defensive pose. They turned to face her again. She slowly proceeded to back up, putting distance between the remaining Borg and herself, ready to finish it. She started to reach for her holstered firearms as she put more distance between her body and the Borg group.

She kept her senses attuned, and she felt and heard slight movement behind her. She felt an impact to her body at the same time she was reacting to the presence behind her, turning as it reached out, one huge arm grasping her, as the other shot out, quicker than she expected, and some sort of proboscis-like attachment shot out towards her upper torso.

_"What the hell?" _Judith thought. _"What is __**that?**__"_

The Borg had her grasped from behind. Judith kicked her right leg straight up, over her head, her boot connecting with the Borg's head. She heard an audible snap. The probe, or whatever it was, glanced over her left shoulder and then slid across her clavicle, scoring the specially woven and designed material, the force of the contact connecting, but because of the angle and the weave of the special material not actually gaining too much access to her flesh underneath, not that she was certain, as she was running on pure _chi_ and adrenaline and had no sense pain. Her right arm could have been lobbed off at that point and she wouldn't have noticed unless she went to use it. She wrenched herself away from the now floundering Borg, and looked behind it. Clear, and a wall.

She looked back at the group of Borg now advancing, but still about three meters away.

Grabbing the Borg who had attacked her by the top of the head and the chin (it's face was crumpled after her boot had connected with it, it had seemingly received a broken nose and a piece of cybernetic material, an optical lens of a sort, was dangling uselessly) and with a quick wrenching snap, she broke it's neck. Sparks flew from it's exposed spinal cord as it dropped without a sound, twitching.

She turned, put her back to the wall, and decided that it was time to use her firearms to finish this off and to put some distance between herself and the remaining Borg.

Pulling two Glock nine millimeter pistols from their holsters, she faced the last of the mob.

"To hell with this."

Judith raised both arms, and fired, repeatedly, her body attuned to the firearms as she was with her other weaponry. She fired, every shot hitting it's target dead on, head shots all. She stopped, slapped out the empty clips, systematically reloaded, and continued without more than a five second pause.

_"Too slow..."_ She thought to herself.

In front of her she aimed at the last standing Borg with one of the Glocks and fired, hitting him in an eye lens monocle. He dropped.

She looked around the now motionless room. The smell of her firearms, burnt flesh from phaser fire, blood, and chemicals overwhelmingly crowded her olfactory glands. She shook her head, blowing air through her nostrils, and taking in a deep breath through her mouth and releasing it.

"Program complete." The computer said in it's emotionless voice.

"That was a hell of a lot more than twenty four, computer."

"Lieutenant Bethulia, Alpha Code was authorization for variance."

"Thank you computer. My count was thirty eight? "

"Forty two, Lieutenant."

"Damn, I was really off."

The Borg ship disappeared along with it's casualties and Judith returned to herself, not the death dealer, not the weapon. She returned to the existence of the _Enterprise_. Judith turned around and looked at her Captain, in the eye, and clasped her hands and bowed low.

_Now_ she felt trepidation seep in as she remained bowed, not yet willing to face her comrades.

_"What will they think of me now?"_

She stood back up and looked at her fellow crew-mates.

Deanna had her hands clasped to her mouth, looking to be almost in tears. _"I wonder if the created Borg somehow had emotions that she felt or is it that she is not used to bloodshed?"_ Judith thought.

Geordi was just sitting, mouth agape. Riker was in a similar state as Geordi.

Worf looked both pleased and concerned, and nodded at her as her made his way towards her, as well as Beverly, for some odd reason. The doctor was making her way towards her at a fast pace.

She looked at the Captain. He had stood up and was making his way over to her also, the look of disgust or anger that she had more than half expected to see not on his face, but with one of extreme concern. Their eyes connected again, and again, she felt that strange feeling when he looked at her. She now noticed that he looked _very_ concerned as he almost ran to her, not a trace of the anger or animosity she perceived from him before the demonstration evident now.

Lastly, she looked at Data, letting a small smile lift her lips... and froze as she saw the expression on Data's face. It was pure anger. Almost a hardly controlled rage.

Beverly reached her, immediately scanning her, telling her to hold on, hold still.

_"What is she talking about?" _

Picard reached out a grasped her shoulders.

"Lieutenant Bethulia, Lieutenant?_** Judith**__!_" Judith shivered at the sound of her given name crossing his lips and the feel of his hands in her. She suddenly fell a wave of vertigo, and her knees felt odd... She suddenly felt like she wanted to sit down. It was when she looked down at herself that she noticed the blood.

_"The holodeck wouldn't have left any blood... Damn, I should have had it leave the Borg specimen with the probe... What was that it had? I've never seen that... Have to run the program back..." _She realized her thoughts were beginning to run oddly as she listened to Beverly say that she would be alright, and felt arms pick her up and carry her. She heard Worf say that he would take her, and then Jean Luc _"The Captain, Judith, the CAPTAIN" _say that he had her. She smelled his unique smell, so comforting... He was picking her up, telling her he had her, she would be alright... What was he talking about?

"Doctor Crusher, are Lieutenant Bethulia's vitals strong enough for her to survive her injury until I can contact Starfleet?" She heard Data say.

"She'll be fine, Data, we just have to get her stabilized until we find out what is in her system."

_"What the hell? What is she talking about?"_

The last thing Judith saw before passing out of consciousness was Data looking on at the scene with that look of barely controlled rage before he turned abruptly and left the Holodeck, as Jean Luc ordered the computer to beam them directly to sickbay.


	12. Chapter 12: Revelations II

_**Chapter 12: Revelations II**_

Judith awoke to hear Jean Luc's melodic, low voice speaking earnestly with Dr. Crusher and Data. _"Got to stop thinking of him as Jean Luc..." _She chided herself.

She became aware that every part of her body was sore. "Why am I so sore? I only received one hit. Oh, gods, that must be it, something penetrated through my uniform, bloody piece of shite..." She groaned quietly and began to attempt to sit upright.

"You are correct, Lieutenant, something indeed penetrated through your uniform, and it injected you. I have contacted Starfleet and we have ascertained what it injected you with, although by all rights, you should not be among us any longer as..." Data's voice was clipped and sounded almost pained as he paused, either to ascertain in his usual nanosecond how to deliver the news, or out of anger, Judith could not tell. "As yourself. Apparently Starfleet has discovered how the Borg assimilate their enemies."

"Sorry for the language, didn't realize that was out loud." She heard Commander Riker chuckle. "I believe I understand. I should be a mindless drone right now, that's how they deliver the nano-technology to a host and turn them into a Borg. That's what that proboscis thing was."

Beverly nodded, obviously distressed. She, in her own mind, could not shake the factor that Lieutenant Bethulia was only a few years older than her own son. It drove Beverly to distraction, sometimes. Not only in her duty as a doctor did she worry about Judith, but her own innate mothering instincts always wanted to make themselves known.

Her crew-mates surrounding her, especially Jean Luc Picard and Worf, were thinking to themselves how amazing it was that Judith had battled those _things_ and not only come out alive, but how she apparently had engaged in like combat before, and after suffering an extremely bad physical wound, she had processed the implications of it immediately after being unconscious.

"You need to lay back down, Judith. Data's right, your body has..." Judith looked at Beverly's relieved, yet confused, expression. "Your body's chemistry somehow has managed to fight off the nanovirus that the Borg injected you with. Data contacted Starfleet because he suspected something of the sort happened. When we first saw your wound, there was something... there appeared to be something moving in it, underneath your skin." Beverly visibly shuddered as she remembered the scene in the holodeck. "Starfleet confirmed that they had just received concrete data that the Borg assimilate a victim through an injection of their 'essence'. You almost, and should, have been assimilated. And through a Starfleet holo program, no less! Jean Luc, what the hell is Starfleet doing?" The doctor was quite obviously livid.

"I do not know, Beverly, but I am damn well going to find out." Jean Luc, Judith noticed for the first time, was holding onto her hand, as if to hold onto her life. He now looked at her, concern and... _"Care?"_ written over his features. "Judith, I'm going to speak to Starfleet command about your program. I might need you to speak with them, also."

"You're not angry at me?" Judith realized how pathetic she must have sounded, but everyone around her seemed absolutely livid. Especially Data, of all people.

"I am not angry at you, Judith, except that you put yourself in unnecessary danger. I am outraged that Starfleet believes it an acceptable loss to use my people in their experiments!" The Captain looked at Judith, and gave a strong squeeze to her hand. "I will be back shortly". He turned and literally stormed from the sickbay, with Commander Riker trailing in his wake.

"Judith, get some rest. I don't know how you did it, it's got to be something in your DNA or RNA structure that we're still trying to map, but you beat it. But nevertheless, your body, and I'm certain, your psyche, took a beating to do it. I'm going to use your blood workup for testing, with your permission, of course." Here Judith answered in the affirmative, immediately grasping what the doctor was getting at. "We might be able to find something to beat the Borg's method of transfer with whatever you've got hiding in your biological system, Lieutenant." Beverly looked at Judith with a wry smile before striding off to do her workups.

This left Data alone standing by Judith's bed in sickbay. He was looking at her with an expression she could not read. He had gone from pure rage and anger to an almost completely blank expression.

"Data?" Judith looked at him, tentatively. "I KNOW you're mad at me..."

"Lieutenant, 'mad' isn't the word for the emotions I have just experienced due to your lack of concern for your own well-being. To have this discussion with you, I have disengaged my emotion chip."

Ah oh. Judith grimaced, waiting for the lecture that she heard coming a mile away. "Alright, Lieutenant Commander Data, let me know how you feel."

"How I feel? I _feel_ that you have let yourself become a plaything for Starfleet to experiment on. I _FEEL_ that you do not care in the least about your safety, and that you have completely disregarded and disrespected your friends' feelings in this matter!"

"Thought you disengaged the emotion chip, Lieutenant." Judith glared up at him.

"I HAVE, DAMMIT! You will listen to me, that is a direct order!" Data's expression was livid again.

"I believe that it must be malfunctioning again, Data, because you sure as hell are telling me how you feel, and, as we all well know, feelings are emotions, Lieutenant." Judith was well aware of how insubordinate and downright snarky she was being. "I will be certain not to endanger your, or any possible other party's _feelings_ on this matter any longer, you can be quite certain, because I have my direct orders from Starfleet, and I believe that they outrank yours." She got off the bed, just as Dr. Crusher started coming back over to stop the argument was occurring between the two Lieutenants.

"I can also assure you, Lieutenant Commander, that you have most definitely revealed to me my errors. I do not have any 'friends'" she said with a vicious curl of her lip "and do not plan on having any that care for my well being except as the weaponry I was designed to be, which can break, and be an acceptable loss. Therefore, issue solved. I am following my orders. I believe that you have clarified my original beliefs, Lieutenant. I thank you for your redirection. I'm afraid that I was straying from my direct orders, and I appreciate your correction." Judith stood, and swayed momentarily before getting her feet beneath her again, figuratively and literally. "Thank you Lieutenant. Dr. Crusher, I believe I shall be in better position to relax and rest without any external distractions in my private quarters. Thank you for saving me. I still have quite a bit to accomplish." She strode, head held high, from the sickbay, before Beverly or even Data could intervene.

Data stood, absolutely silent now. He realized that Judith must be right, his emotion chip must be malfunctioning, because his emotions were running on overload. Anger, betrayal, hurt, and guilt. He _hurt_ inside, knowing he had hurt her, had made her retreat and rebuild the barriers that she had slowly started to let down, to become more human. He had definitely approached this in the wrong way.

"Data, what did you say to her? My god! We have to get her back here, she nearly died!" Beverly was beside herself. "Crusher to Lieutenant Bethulia... Please report immediately back to sickbay." She paused, waiting for a response. "Crusher to Lieutenant Bethulia... Damn it all, computer, please locate Lieutenant Bethulia."

Data was processing the situation as best as he could with the experience having had his emotion chip running his other neural capacitors on almost overload. He was chiding himself when suddenly, something processed through all of the other thoughts and feelings running amok inside of him.

"Doctor Crusher, did you see the change to Lieutenant Bethulia's eyes?"

_**I am truly sorry for the long hiatus, the real world has a way of intervening... I assure you my muse is back on track. I have also reviewed and tweaked the previous chapters, to those of you that have read so far. **_

_**Thank you for those that have reviewed and favorited! It's a great boost and let's me know I'm not just doing this for me, lol. :)**_

_**Geesh, Data's sure doing a slam-dunk job with his emotion chip... or is it something else? ;) Sorry that I've got everyone mad at him, but he always does seem to say it the wrong way, that's part of what's so endearing about him. :) **_


	13. Chapter 13: Acceptable Losses

_**Chapter 13: Acceptable Losses**_

Judith strode determinedly towards th holodecks. All thoughts of deceiving Doctor Crusher by saying she was going to her quarters and ignoring her com-link calls, all thoughts of Data's outrage and obvious emotional pain unknowingly brought on by her, all thoughts of anything except retreat to her Temple and her Master were gone from her head. Retreat from the encroaching_ emotions_ that were threatening to drown her, once and for all.

She stumbled a bit, leaning against the deck wall outside of the holodeck. A familiar face came up to her, concern written all over his gentle features.

"Lieutenant Bethulia, Judith, are you alright?" Lieutenant Barclay asked her, reaching for her arm to steady her.

Judith's own arm whipped out, faster than Barclay's eyes could follow, and grasped his hand before it could make contact with her body. "I'm fine, Reg, just please, I need to be alone right now." Her face, paler than pale, looked up at the other Lieutenant's. He nodded, concern still obvious, and then gasped.

"Judith, your eyes! They're... there's something wrong! Let me get you to sickbay..." He started to reach for his com-badge.

Judith's hand whipped out again to stop him from making a call. "Lieutenant Barclay, NO, I'M FINE. Just let me go." Judith reached out to the holodeck's control panel and shakily but still quickly entered the per-requisite codes manually versus verbally since Reginald had yet to leave, but had indeed backed off, something akin to fear in his own eyes.

The holodeck doors whisked open, and she literally stumbled in, and they whipped closed before Barclay could see the program running or to try to talk to her again.

"Lieutenant Barclay to sickbay, Doctor Crusher, I think I have a situation down at Holodeck Three."

-oOoOoOo-

Captain Jean Luc Picard sat at his desk in his private office, unveiled rage written across his usual clam and controlled features.

"What do you mean, 'acceptable losses'? She was nearly killed, or worse! I will not stand to have this type of experimentation aboard my ship, on my crew! Since when does Starfleet use their own as..."

"Jean Luc, _you_ don't really have a say in the matter. This has been debated and decided upon already, and Lieutenant Bethulia is well aware of her mission and is completely accepting of it. I am not going to ask you to initiate any of your other crew members into the training program." At this Jean Luc audibly snarled and was about to interrupt, but Admiral Hedgewick had no qualms continuing, with a snarl of his own in his voice and a look a contempt on his face. "Get with the literal program, Jean Luc. We are at WAR. This is not the time for your famous self righteous and useless morals to come into play. This is a direct order. You WILL follow it. Lieutenant Bethulia is to continue her training and research, and we will continue to upload new information AS WE SEE FIT, to her training programs, and do so with or without informing her, _AS WE SEE FIT,_ until we call her back, and I'm about to do so right now, because I frankly don't believe you or your precious morals can handle her, Jean Luc. I have no idea what Janeway was thinking, she is an unbelievably useful commodity..."

"COMMODITY? She is a human being, for God's sake, man!" Picard was absolutely beside himself. Commander Riker, who had been standing off to the side, silent and out of the view of the Admiral, had to keep himself from automatically stepping forward to intervene in some way. He had never seen his Captain and mentor so visibly angry at a Starfleet Command official, nor heard such obvious animosity between two Starfleet officers.

"STAND DOWN, Picard! You are treading on very dangerous ground! You also might want to rethink about how _human_" Hedgewick said with a smirk "your new Lieutenant is. I thought that your ship's doctor would have mapped more of her DNA by now, since you only have the best Starfleet has to offer." Hedgewick said with obvious sarcasm. "This is also a direct order, have your Doctor Crusher send the test results of the Borg nano-tech's impact on the Lieutenant's system, and, oh yes, a possible report from your Counselor Troi on how it has effected her psychologically. That will be interesting for our scientists to consider... Hedgewick out."

Picard did something so out of character that Will Riker didn't know how to react. He picked up the porcelain cup he had been drinking from and flung it with full force across his ready room. It shattered against the wall, the residual dregs of his tea pooling onto the floor before seeping into the thick carpet. He then stood and began pacing.

"This is unthinkable, unconscionable, how dare they put this, this, _VIRUS_ onto my ship and expose a member of my crew to it, like she was a damn trained lab rat!" He continued pacing, looking as if he had forgotten Riker was still present.

"Captain, I don't know what to say. She seemed to have been acclimating well, and was not showing any signs of danger to the crew. Perhaps you should take the Admiral's advice and send her back. I didn't, nor did any of us, believe she was harboring such secrets."

Picard whirled to look at his second in command, his fury obviously built even more if possible.

"Commander Riker, I say who will and will not be on my ship! Lieutenant Bethulia's presence aboard the Enterprise is not the issue or the danger! It is Starfleet who has put her, and us, at risk!"

Riker put his hands up in compliance and deferment. "Captain, I meant no disrespect, I am not Hedgewick. Who_ is_ that man, anyway?" The distaste was obvious in his voice. "I only meant to state that we were all, well, almost all, been concerned about her presence, and perhaps we were right to be..."

Picard seemed to deflate, a long sigh escaping from him, along with the unleashed rage. He sat back down at his desk, putting his face in his hands.

"I understand your concerns, Will, and I am sorry for losing my control. I do not know who Hedgewick is, although he certainly knows us, and me, and obviously has no qualms about expressing his feelings for said parties." With this, Riker actually gave a small smirk. "I have been trying to reach Kate Janeway, Judith's liaison, and have been repeatedly rebuffed and was sent immediately to Hedgewick as soon as I brought up Judith's name." He sat back in his chair, sighing again. "Judith..." he caught himself "Lieutenant Bethulia's presence isn't the danger, Will. I fully believe she will protect this ship and her crew under any circumstances. The danger is to herself, and the damn program codes they gave her. No one should be made to do what she is expected to do, a suicide mission if there ever was one... I had an idea what Starfleet had planned for her, but this... I can see it coming, Will. She will be made repeatedly to offer herself up as a weapon and defense, and with her mindset, she will. And she will not survive much more of it."

Riker sat himself, considering his friend and comrade, his mentor. He had never seen Picard so violently switch from emotion to emotion. And the way he said the Lieutenant's name... Will wondered. He decided to dare the moment. "Captain, have you considered that this is exactly what she was _made_ to do? We've read her files, we _saw, _with our own eyes, what she is capable of today...she_ is_ a weapon, sir."

Jean Luc looked at Riker, and shook his head, almost in defeat. "And we also have seen her attempt to serve this ship to the best of her abilities, some of us also saw her laugh, and be..." Picard's thoughts seemed to drift away momentarily, he was thinking of the previous evening by the pool, the depth in her eyes, her humility, and how she had looked at him. "Be human. She is not just a weapon, Will. She might have been beaten and forged into what she is, but there is a lost woman inside the weapon that has been created."

"Captain, what if she's _too_ lost?"

"I'm going to do my damnedest to ascertain that, Will, and try to help stop her from self-destructing. I expect the same, but do not command that, of all of you." Riker nodded his agreement immediately.

At that moment, his com-link came to life. "Crusher to Captain Picard, I need you down at Holodeck Three, immediately. Jean Luc, it's Judith... She's locked herself into a program, I have no idea what it is, and we cannot access it. And there's something wrong with her... I'm afraid very wrong. I'm calling Worf and Deanna, also."

Picard and Riker stood up immediately. "On my way, doctor."


	14. Chapter 14: To Feel

_**Thank you for hanging in there, Syril Silverleaf...what can I say, makin' up for lost time ;) When my muse speaks, she roars, lol. **_

_**Chapter 14: To Feel**_

Picard and Riker got to Holodeck Three in record time. Jean Luc was surprised to see Data and Lieutenant Reginald Barclay already there with Dr. Crusher. Data's fingers were flying over the holodeck's control panel, obviously to no avail, as the computer continued to deny him access. Barclay was futilely trying to recall the code that Lieutenant Bethulia had entered, but he admitted to Dr. Crusher that, even as weak as she appeared to be, her fingers had flown over the screen almost as fast as Lieutenant Commander Data's, and he was unable to follow what code she had entered. He was explaining to Beverly how normally he would never, ever attempt to spy on someone entering their code, but he had known something was very, very wrong with Judith. The doctor was trying to reassure the distraught man that they understood and that he had done the right thing by contacting them immediately.

Jean Luc immediately picked up on what Reginald had said, how weak she had been when he had seen her.

"Doctor, please give me an idea of what's going on." He looked to Beverly, who laid a reassuring hand on Barclay's before she looked to Picard.

"Lieutenant Bethulia left the sickbay approximately an hour ago. She was..." She glanced at Data, who was seemingly ignoring the proceedings around him as he continued to try to break the code, "Very distraught. Lieutenant Data should probably explain what happened, I wasn't witness to it." Beverly stopped.

"Lieutenant Bethulia and I had an extremely... heated discussion over her own safety protocols and what I believed was a betrayal of trust in my friendship. I am afraid I was rather harsh in my expressing of such and handled my own feelings poorly. I believe my emotion chip is malfunctioning again, I will have Commander La Forge remove and test it as soon as we have accomplished our goals here. This is not an excuse for my behavior. I had not taken into consideration what Lieutenant Bethulia's thoughts were, and I'm afraid I, vented, as I have heard say. It was inappropriate." He continued to work on the door. "Lieutenant Bethulia's reaction was just, and she appeared to be extremely emotionally agitated. She got up and left the sickbay. She appeared off balance physically. I noticed that her eye coloring had changed. There was an unusual ring of what I can only call a fiery red around her irises. I have witnessed this once before, when she had become upset."

Reginald Barclay came up to the Captain at this point. "Captain Picard, Sir, I can concur on Lieutenant Commander Data's observations. I found Lieutenant Bethulia here at the door, sir, she looked very pale and rather ill, and when I attempted to contact sickbay for her, she insisted that she was alright and that she just be left alone. She put in a quite complex code manually, and shut herself in before I could say another word or see the program running. Sir, her eyes... her eyes were what threw me off. They looked exactly like Commander Data says, sir." Reginald looked down at the floor, dejectedly. "I contacted Dr. Crusher immediately, sir, I didn't know what else to do. Her eyes were, were so..."

"It's alright, Reg, we're going to get through to her. Why don't you go down to Ten Forward and find Guinan and tell her about what happened... I'm certain that she'd like to know." Deanna and Worf had arrived, and she had come up and gently led Barclay away to the turbolifts before returning.

"Doctor, can you tell me what condition Judith was in when she left the sickbay?" Picard asked.

"Her vitals were good. Her blood pressure was not as low as I'd have liked to have seen it, but she was not in a danger zone, and her levels were completely normal considering the physical and mental exertion she had just been through. I cannot say for her emotional state. She was very upset, Jean Luc. Data, you and her were arguing, yes, but it wasn't just you, so don't go blaming yourself for all of it. I cannot say I saw her eyes in any different manner, and I do not know what would or even what could have caused that. Data, you said you had seen her eyes do this prior to the demonstration today and her exposure to the Borg assimilation nano-virus?"

"Yes, Doctor, I have. It might be part of the genetic makeup that we are, as of yet, unaware of."

"Captain, she needs help... NOW." Deanna's eyes were wide with fright. "Something is happening in there, she's battling something. Emotionally... I think she's losing. We need to get in there, _NOW_." Data's fingers paused for a millisecond.

"Might I please not be taken as rude and might I please ask everyone to let the Captain and I speak privately?" Data asked, as he continued his attempts.

Picard looked almost frantic at this point. Everyone backed a polite distance away, and he immediately turned to his third in command. "Data, what the hell is going on?"

"Captain, forgive me, but I made a promise to Lieutenant Bethulia that I would never attempt to follow her into a particular program she had created without my knowledge when she and I were working on the other training programs. I told her that I would honour her request, as long as I felt that she was in no immediate danger. I believe that this is the program that she has accessed and retreated to."

"What is the program, Data? What is she doing? Fighting more Borg? A Spartan army?" Picard was about ready shake Data in his frustration.

"It was a recreation of her Master's Temple in Asia, I believe, Sir."

"Wouldn't that be a calming place, Data?"

"Sir, I witnessed it. Her Master is, 'not kind' as she said to me. She actually feared that you or I or someone else would accidentally stumble upon the program and that her Master would severely hurt or kill them, and so she set up a virtually unbreakable security code with codes that Starfleet has given her." Picard swore aloud as he grasped the issue of the door lock at hand.

Data continued. "I objected, stating that this Master would obviously be able to hurt her as well, but she countered that he couldn't hurt her anymore than he already had. I saw the gentleman in question, sir." If it was at all possible, Data shivered. "He definitely did not seem of the pleasant sort. I suppose one could say he exuded danger, or complete derangement. I experienced a feeling not much unlike I now can say I feel when I have been around my brother." Picard felt an eerie chill race up his spine. "The Lieutenant stated that she had set up wards that even you or I would have problems overrunning; it appears that she is correct. I think I might be able to override them, sir. But I do not feel that it would be just if we all went in at once. I made a promise to her, Captain."

Picard nodded in agreement.

Deanna suddenly cried out again. "Captain! We must help her, now!"

-oOoOoOo-

Judith stood in a horse stance in front of her Master, trying not to fall, trying not to show weakness. She grounded herself through her center, concentrated on her core of energy and what Master was saying to her, rather than continuing to let her physical and emotional feelings to control her.

"Judith of Bethulia, you have been weak. You have failed in surpassing the emotions that I have taught you to dispose of, countless of times."

"I understand, _Sifu._" Judith tried to control her breathing. "I am endeavoring, Master. I understand."

"Your endeavors are obviously not accomplishing your goals. You must control the human emotions inside of you, lest you let the blood demon out.!Then all will be lost. You have been taught this! Humility, control... You must not let other mere mortals interfere!"

Judith was trying, trying so hard, but the feelings that she was experiencing... It was as if all of the emotional responses that she had denied herself her whole life were threatening to explode out of her at once. She recalled Jean Luc, the Captain's face, his voice, and something snapped within her. She did not know that the very man who she thought of had silently gained entry into the holodeck temple with them, and was even then listening and accessing what was happening, and what he must do, to save her.

"_WHY?_ Why must I never have anyone to feel for, or for me, Master? I was connected to them... The Borg... For just a few moments..." She trailed off, afraid of her feelings, afraid of what she was about to admit, to herself, to her Master. "For just a few moments, I felt... Whole. With them. There was someone else _there with me_, for once in my..."

She felt the whip thin bamboo cane come down on her exposed neck only slightly, as she was in such emotional turmoil. She tried to concentrate on the pain and nothing else, she tried to listen to her Master, but her emotions were gaining the upper hand.

"You have been TAUGHT." The cane came down again, drawing a line of blood, trailing down her neck. "You have been SHOWN." Again the weapon came down, droplets of blood flying to land on the altar in the temple, joining other, older, dried and darker spots. "LOOK at yourself, Woman of Bethulia. Look at what your emotions bring you!"

Picard stepped out from behind a pillar, ready to intervene immediately, his safety be damned. Their plan was for him to ascertain the situation and level it until Geordi could cut the direct power source to the holodeck, but he couldn't stand by and watch anyone, let alone _her,_ be tortured like this, be broken.

Her master whipped her around by her thick braid, yanking her out of stance as if she were nothing but a weed being yanked from loose earth, versus the heavily rooted tree that she should have been. The withered old man held her up by her hair, dragging her to the mirror at the farther side of the temple. He held her up so she could see her eyes.

"_Anochi!_" She cried out in fear as she saw her reflection... Her eyes had gone a fiery, blood red. "Will this never cease?"

"How DARE YOU USE THAT LANGUAGE OF FILTH! You are nothing but a mongrel dog. You are unclean! Your mother was wrong, you are unfit to walk in her path!"

He dropped Judith to the floor, crying, and stormed over to a rack near the altar with an array of deadly looking blades and weapons.

"ENOUGH!" Picard shouted out as he reached Judith, pulling her limp form up to him, to support her.

The ancient Asian turned around and saw Picard, and laughed, full of contempt, as he chose a wicked looking steel blade from the rack.

"What do you want here, _Gweilo_? Do you wish to witness my disposal of my failed attempt of creating a warrior? Or is it death you seek for yourself? I believe it is both." The eerie giggle emerged from his ancient wrinkled throat.

"Jean Luc..." Picard looked down at Judith, weak in his arms, bloody, beaten to her emotional core. Her eyes had lost much of the fiery red, but the trace that Data and Barclay had seen was still there. It made her no less beautiful to him. He almost forgot what was happening, where they were, as he realised that she had used his given name. The dream he had had just that very morning was so eerily similar to how she felt now, pressed against him, but without the blood and the pain, and with passion... "_How did I know the sound of her voice then? I had yet to meet her..." _The random but relevant thought ran through his mind.

"Jean Luc, Captain, you must leave... He will kill you."

"He is about to kill you. I will not let that happen." He looked up at the now advancing ancient. "At least not without a fight. I am here with you." He tightened his hold on her and drew her closer, pulling his phaser out.

"Computer, end simulation, Picard Alpha Nine Nine Tango."

The ancient continued to giggle as he advanced. Picard shot with the phaser, dead on, at full power. Nothing happened to the old man.

"Picard Alpha Nine Nine Tango authorization not valid." The computer's emotionless voice answered.

"Judith, end the simulation. You must end it, now."

"Can't." She whispered, growing, if possibly so, even paler. Jean Luc could see the delicate blue veins in her throat. "The program is not a simulation. Get out. Leave me to my end. The Master is right."

"He is _NOT_! Lieutenant, on your feet! I will not let you give up on yourself, you will not give up on me. I am here for you, I care for you, I feel for you! Don't you dare give up!" Picard literally shook her and pulled her up to him in an even closer embrace, and then pushed her behind him, facing the little old man who had stopped to watch this interaction as if it were fascinating entertainment.

The Master laughed. "How touching, Whore of Bethulia, you now have completely ignored my teachings... You have someone who thinks he cares? Well, we'll see how much he_ feels_, soon."

Picard drew himself up, ready, and he felt Judith suddenly go from her limp state to upright. She held onto his hand as she walked around him, back in front of him, to face her Master, to put herself in front of him and the old man. She gave his hand a last squeeze as she let go, and dropped into stance.

"Judith, no, wait! Just wait it out, don't confront him any longer, Lieutenant LaForge is..."

Judith ignored her Captain as she faced her Master. "I don't think so, OLD MAN." Judith sounded suddenly full of power, full of energy. Jean Luc saw how her limbs had regained their strength, how she suddenly looked like herself again...

Except that her eyes had gone completely a deep, fiery blood red.

**_Reviews! Ach, I need reviews! I beg of ye! _**_I'm trying to get my muse back on track with this, but she needs to be fed!_**_:)_**


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